
Qass_L 



Book ,^f 6Vj>. 



AN 



ABRIDGED HISTORY 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS. 



INTENDED AS A SEaUEL//^ lOT^ 

lo/i 



^^f WAS'H^Vi^J, 



HILDRETH'S VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES. 



BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED BY CARTER, HENDEE & BABCOCK. 



M DCCC XXXI. 



Entered according to Act of CongresS; in the year 1831, 

By Carter, Hendee & Babcock, 

in the Clerk's office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



BOSTONCLASSICPRESS: j 

I. R. B U T T S. ' 



PREFACE 



It seems to be a well founded, as well as a very com- 
mon opinion, that in a country of institutions so peculiar 
as ours, an acquaintance with the elements of history, and 
especially of our own history, ought to be made a promi- 
nent object of school education. 

It has been often remarked by judicious teachers, that 
the abridgments of American history in general use, are 
not so well adapted as they might be, to attract the atten- 
tion, and impress the memory of the pupil ; and I cannot 
but hope I am doing an acceptable service in offering 
them the choice of another book, in which an attempt has 
been made, to avoid some of the more obvious defects of 
preceding compilations. 

My principal aim has been to be plain, brief, and accu- 
rate ; not so much to make reflections as to state facts ; 



IV PREFACE. 



and avoiding all unnecessary details, to trace the general 
course of events with such clearness of arrangement and 
sprightliness of style, as the narrow limits of an abridg- 
ment would allow. 

It has not been found very easy to digest the scattered 
fragments of our colonial history, into anything approaching 
a connected narrative ; and in the following parts, the 
transitions are sometimes too sadden, and many interesting 
matters are entirely omitted, or but slightly noticed. But 
such faults are incident to every abridgment. The 
present work is intended to exhibit only an outUne of 
American history, sufficient for a text book, but requiring 
to be filled up, by the lectures of the teacher, and the 
pupil's subsequent reading, 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 



Voyage of the Cabots. — Origin of the claims of England to the terri- 
tory of North America. — Florida discovered by Ponce de Leon. — 
Claims of Spain to the territory of North Ame ica. — Voyages of Ver- 
azzano and Cartier. — Claims of France. — The River Mississippi 
discovered. — Fisheries of Newfonndland. — General ap|jearance 
of the country now the United States. — Its Inhabitants. — Attempts 
of the Frencli to colonize Florida. — Patent and Voyages of Sir 
Humphrey Gilbert. — Sir Walter Ptaleigh's attempt to plant a colo- 
ny. — Voyage of Bartholomew Gosnold. — Patents granted to the 
London and Plymouth Companies, .... 



CHAPTER II. 



Newport's First Voyage. — First Permanent Colony Landed in Vir- 
ginia. — Jamestown Built. — Captain Smith. — His Adventures 
among the Indians — Wretched State of the Colony — Arrival 
of Lord Delav/aro. — Administration of Argal and Yeardly. — First 
Colonial Assembly. — Prosperity of the Colony. — Massacre. — 
Indian War. — Virginia becomes a Royal Province. — Administra- 
tion of Wyat, Hervey and Sir William Berkeley. — Grant and Set- 
tlement of fllaryland, ...... 



CHAPTER III. 



Plymouth Company. — The Puritans, —Plymouth Colony. —Other 
Attempts to Colonize New England. — Colony of Massachusetts 
Bay. — Boston founded. — First Settlements in Connecticut. — 



VI CONTENTS. 

Providence founded — Pequod War. — Internal Disputes. —Mrs 
Hutchinson. — Settlement of Rhode Island. — New Hampshire. — 
Colony of New Haven. — Harvard College founded. — Emigration 
from England ceases. — Union of the New England Colonies. — 
Province of Maine. — Indians of New England. — Praying Indians. 
— Persecution of the Quakers. —State of the English Colonies at 
the Restoration, ....... IC 



CHAPTER IV. 

Restoration of Charles II. — The Navigation Act. — Origin and His- 
tory of the Province of the New Netherlands. — Swedish Settle- 
ments on the Delaware. — Conquest of the New Netherlands. — 
Province of New York ; Province of New Jersey. — Grant and 
Settlement of Carolina. — Affairs of Virginia. — Bacon's Rebel- 
lion, .... .... 36 



CHAPTER V. 

Affairs of New England. — Philip's War. — New Hampshire mad« a 
Distinct Province. — Grant and Settlement of Pennsylvania. — The 
three Counties on the Delaware. — Massachusetts Charter declared 

void. — Sir Edmund Andros governor of New England Affairs 

of New York. — Leisler's Rebellion. — New Charter of Massa- 
chusetts. — Salem Witchcraft, ... . . 42 



CHAPTER VI. 

Effect on the Colonies of the accession of King William. — French 
Settlements in Acadie and Canada. — The Five Nations. — Popula- 
tion of the Colonies at the beginning of the first French and Indian 
■\Yar. — Destruction of Schenectady. — Commissioners meet at 
New York. — Port Royal taken. — Destruction of York and Oyster 
I^iver. — Expedition against Quebec. — Port Royal recovered by 
the French. — Peace of Ryswick, 1G97. — War Renewed. — Dee»- 
field destroyed. — Port Royal taken. — Unsuccessful Attempt on 
Quebec. — Peace of Utrecht, 1711. — Affairs of the Middle and 
Southern Colonies. — Wars with the Southern Indians. — Carolina 
becomes a Royal Province, ..... 52 



CHAPTER VII . 

Affairs of New England. — Lovewell's War. — Controversy in Mas- 
sachusetts respecting the Governor'e Salary. — Grant and Settle- 



CONTENTS. 



ment of Georgia. — War between' England and Spain — Ode- 
thorpe lays siege to St Augustine. —Spaniards invade Georgia — 
Third French and Indian War. — Expedition against Louisburg 
— Ihe Colonies alarmed by a French Fleet. — Peace of Aix Ja 
ChapellC; 1748, ... * GO 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Disputes between the French and English respecting the boundaries 
of their North American Colonies. — French Colony of Louisiana 

— Respective strength of the French and English Colonies. — 
Mission of major Washington. — Battle of the Great Meadows.— 
Scheme for a Union of the Colonies. — Expedition to Nova Scotia. 

— Removal of the Acadiens. — Braddock's defeat. — Defeat of 
Dieskau. — Treaty with the Cherokees. — Forts at Oswetro, and 
fort Wilham Henry taken by Montcalm. — Great exertions of the 
Colonies. — Louisburg taken. — Abercrombie repulsed at Ticon- 
deroga. — Fort Frontinac suirenders. — Fort Du Quesne deserted 
by the French. — Amherst drives the French from Ticonderogd 
and Crown Point. — Fort Niagara taken. — Wolfe sails tor Quebec. 

— Battle of Quebec. — The City surrenders. — Battle of Siliery. — 
Montreal, and the other French posts capitulate. — War with the 
Cherokees.— Peace of Fontainbleau, 1763. — War with the Western 
Indians. — Peace^ . • .... 64 



CHAPTER IX. 

Nature of the connexion between the Colonies and thfe Mother Coun- 
try. _ Stamp Act. — Congress at New York. — Repeal of the Stamp 
Act — Duties on paper, glass, &c. —Discontent of the Colonies 

— Duties repealed except that on tea. — Boston Massacre. — Insur- 
rection in North Carolina.— Vessels loaded with tea sail for Ameri- 
ca. — Their reception. — Boston Port Bill. — First Conoress at 
Philadelphia.— Battle of Lexington. — Ticonderoga and" Crown 
Point taken. —Battle of Bunker Hill.— Second Congress at Phil- 
adelphia. — Washington appointed Commander-in-chief. — Expe- 
dition against Canada. — Assault on Quebec. — Boston evacuated. 

— Attack on Charleston. —Declaration of Independence. — Popu- 
lation of the United States, ... 78 



CHAPTER X. 

Hovve arrives before New York. — Battle of Long Island. — New 
York evacuated. — Battle of White Plains. — Fort Washington 



VIU CONTENTS?. 

taken by slorm. — Fort Lee abandoned. — Washington refrgaf* 
through the Jerseys. — Battle of Trenton. — Battle of Princeton, 

— Washington leeovers the Jerseys, and takes post at ftlorristown. 

— Organization of the Army. — Stores destroyed at Peel<skili. — 
At Duxbury. — Meig's expedition to Long Island. — Howe sails 
for the Chesapeake. — Londs at the head of Elk. — Battle of 
Brandywine. — Wayne surprised. — Philadelphia evacuated.— Bat- 
tle of (iermantown. — Battle of Red Bank. — Attack on fort Mifflin. 

— Communication opened between the British army and fleet, 92^ 



CHAPTER XI. 



Affairs of the Northern department. — Naval engagement on Lake 
Champlaiu. — Burgoyne invests Ticonderoga. — Ticonderoga evac- 
uated. — Action at Hubberton. — Fort Anne evacuated. — St Leger 
invests fort Schuyler. — Defeats Herkimer. — Battle of Benning- 
ton. — Siege of fort Schuyler raised. — First battle of Stillwater. 

— Second battle of Stillwater. — Retreat of Burgoyne. — His army 
capitulates. — Posts at the highlands taken by the British. — They 
evacuate the forts on lake Champlain. — Washington is reinforced, 

— He goes into winter quai ters at Valley Forge, , , 10-5 



CHAPTER XII 



Retrospect. — The States. — Congress. — The Confederation. — Pa- 
per Money. —The Loyalists. — Indian afiairs. — Story of Miss 
M'Crea. — Treatment of prisoners. — Ptiaritime exertions. — W'ants 
and sufferings of the army. — Combination against general Wash- 
ington. — Alliance with France. — Lord North's attempt at recou- 
ciliation, ........ 



114 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The British evacuate Philadelphia. — Battle of Monmouth. — A 
French fleet arrives. — Battle of Rhode Island. — Skirmishes. — 
Destruction of Wyoming. — Theatre of war transferred to the 
South. — Savannah taken by the British, — Georgia submits. — 
LincoUi takes command of the Southern army. — Insurrection 
of the Loyalists. — Engagement at Briar's Creek. — Charleston 
besieged. — Engagement at Stono Ferry. — Affairs of the North. — 
Sullivan's expedition against the Six Nations. — Arrival of a French 
fleet. — Siege of Savannah. — Spain takes part in the war, , 120 



CONTENTS. IX 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Clinton's expedition against South''Carolina. — Siege of Charleston — 
Affair at Monk's corner. — Charleston capitulates. — Affair of 
the Washaws. — South Carolina submits. — Exploits of Sumpter. 
— Gates appointed to command the Southern army. — Battle of Cam- 
den. — Defeat of Sumpter. — Affairs of the North. — Treachery of 
Arnold. — Action of King's fliountain. — Greene takes command of 
the Southern army. — Battle of the Cowpens. — Greene's retreat 
through North Carolina. — Battle of Guilford. — Cornvvallis retires to 
Wilmington. ^ — Greene advances into South Carolina. — Battle of 
Hobkirk Hill. — British posts taken by Morgan. — Rawdon retires 
towards Charleston. — Siege of Ninety Six. — Battle of Eutaw, 127 



CHAPTER XV. 

State of the Army. — Revolt of the Pennsylvania line. — Reforms in 
the Executive Departments. — Robert Morris superintendent of 
Finance. — Operations of Cornwallis and La Fayette in Virginia. — 
Arrival of a French fleet. — Resolution to act against Cornwallis. 
— New London destroyed. — Cornwallis surrenders. — Treaty of 
peace. — New York evacuated by the British army. — Army dis- 
banded. — Washington resigns his coxuiiiissiou, . . . 137 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Defects of the confederation. — Weakness of Congress. — The pub- 
lic debt. — Difficulties with Great Britain. — Depressed state of 
Commerce. — Meeting of Commissioners at Annapolis. — A gen- 
eral convention recommended. — State of parties. — Insurrection 
in Massachusetts. — The convention meets. — The constitution 
formed. — Parties for and against it. — The Federalist. — The State 
conventions. — Constitution accepted by ten States. — Time fixed 
for its operation to commence^ ..... 144 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Washington elected first President. — His journey from Mount Ver- 
non to New York, — First session of Congress. — A revenue provid- 
ed. — Other laws. — Heads of departments. — President visits New 
England. — Second session of Congress. — Public debt funded. — 
Debates on this subject. — Indian wars. — Treaty with the Creeks. 
— Harmer defeated. — Bank f>f the United States. — Vermont and 
Kentucky admitted into the Union. — President's southern tour. — 
First census. — Commerce and Navigation, . . 148 



X CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Indian war. — St Clair appointed to the chief command. — Battle 
near the Miami villages. — St Clair retreats. — Army increased. — 
Mint established. — State of parties. — Mr Hamilton. — ]\Ir Jeffer- 
son. — Federalists. — Republicans, or Democrats. — Opposition to 
the Administration. — Disturbances in the west of Pennsylvania. — 
Charges against Mr Hamilton — Not sustained. — The French re- 
volution. — Its effect on parties in the Uiiitpd States. — War in 
Europe. — Washington's proclamation of neutrality. — Citizen Ge- 
net. — Democratic societies. — Genet recalled. — Resignation of 
Mr Jefferson. — Mr Madison's commercial resolutions. — Embargo. 
— Preparations for war. — Mission of Mr Jay. — Hamilton and 
Knox resign. . . . . ^ . . 155 



CHAPTER XIX. 



Navigation of the Mississippi. — Kentucky remonstrance. — War with 
the Indians. — Wayne's victory. — Insurrection in Pennsylvania. 

— President calls out the militia. — Insurrection suppressed. — 
Jay's treaty. — Its unpopularity. — It is ratified by ihe President. 

— Peace of Grenville with the northwestern Indians. — Treaty 
with Spain. — Treaty with Algiers. — Proceedings in Congress re- 
specting Jay's treaty. — Mr Monroe recalled, and Mr Pinkney ap- 
pointed envoy lo 3France. — Mr Randolph resigns. — Tennessee 
admitted into the Union. — Candidates for the presidency. — Mr 
Adams elected, ....... 164 



CHAPTER XX 



state of affairs with France. — Mr Pinkney not received. — Mission 
of Pinkney, Gerry and Marshall. — Treaty with France annulled. 
• — Reception of the American envoys. — Preparations for war. — 
Naval engagements. — Mission of Ellsworth, Davie and Murray. — 
Convention with France. — Death of Washington. — Seat of gov- 
ernment removed to the District of Columbia. — Canvass for the 
Presidency. — Mr Marshall secretary of Slate. — Courts of the 
United States reorganized. ..... 172 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Mr Jefferson elected president. — Reduction of the army and navy. 
— Repea;l of Mr Adams' judiciary act. — Ohio admitted into the 



CONTENTS. XI 

Union. — Purchase of Louisiana. — Expedition of Lewis and Clarke. 

— War with Tripoli. — The Philadelphia taken — Destroyed by 
Decatur. — Tripoli bombarded. — Sidi Joussouf, Bashaw of Tripoli. 

— Eaton's arrangement with Hamet. — Derne taken. — Treaty with 
Tripoli. — Trial of colonel Burr^ . . . . " . 175 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Flourishing state of American commerce. — Depredations renew- 
ed. — Berlin decree. — Impressment of American seamen. — Af- 
fair of the Chesapeake. — Proclamation of the president. — Admi- 
ral Berkeley recalled. — British orders in council. — Milan decree. 

— Embargo. — Its unpopularity in the eastern states. — Decree of 
Bayonne. — Non-intercourse acts. — J\Jr Madison president. — Ers- 
kine's treaty. — Not ratified. — Mr Jackson. — Decree of Ram- 
bouillet. — Act of May, 1310. — Alleged repeal of the Berlin and 
Milan decrees. — Reparation for the attack on the Chesapeake. — 
Refusal of the British government to revoke the orders in council. 

— Affair of the Little Belt. — Battle of Tippecanoe. — War de- 
clared against Great Britain. — Orders in council revoked. — Louis- 
iana admitted into the Union, ..... JSD 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

War commenced under unfavorable circumstances. — Preparations for 
the invasion of Canada. — Campaign of 1812. — Hull's surrender. 

— He is succeeded by general Harrison. — Battle of the river Raisin. 

— Massacre of prisoners. — Battle of Queenstown. :— General 
Smyth. — Naval affairs. — Success of the American frigm^s'. — 
Session of congress. — Re-election of Mr Madison. — Commission- 
ers for negotiating a peace. — Taxes. — Campaign of 1813. — 
Blockade of the coast. — Admiral Cockburn. — Naval Engage- 
ments. — Creek war. — Battle of the Great Bend. — Submission 
of the southern Indians. — Affairs on the Niagara frontier. — York 
taken. — Sackett's harbor attacked. — Battle of Stony Creek. — 
Battle of the Beaver dams. — Wilkinson's invasion of Canada.- — 
Newark burned. —Desolation of the Niagara frontier. — Affairs of 
the northwest. — Siege effort Meigs — Of fort Stevenson. — Per- 
ry's victory on Lake Erie. — Advance of Harrison. — Battle of the 
Thames. — Peace with the northwestern Indians, . . 191 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

State of affairs at the beginning of 1814. — Campaign of 1814. — Bat- 
tle of Chippewa. —Battle of Niagara. — Assault on fort Erie.— 



Xll CONTENTS. 

Sortie. — Battle of Plattsburg. — M'Donough's naval victory. — 
British expedition up the Chesapeake. — Battle of Bladensburg. — 
Capture of Washington. — Capitulation of Alexandria. — Battle of 
Baltimore. — Naval affairs. — Expedition against New Orleans. — 
Battle of New Orleans. — Peace. — Situation of the country. — 
Hartford Convention. — Beneficial results of the war, . . 210 



CHAPTER XXV. 



Measures of Congress. — War with Algiers. — Bank of the United 
States. — State of Uie currency. — Mr Monroe elected president. — 
Commercial speculations. — Emigration. — Indiana admitted into 
the Union. — Mississippi. — Illinois. — Alabama. — JMaine. — Mis- 
souri. — The Missouri question. — Cession of Florida. — Pensions 
granted to the revolutionary soldiers. — Canvass for the presidency. 
— Mr Adams chosen. — He is succeeded by general Jackson, 221 



APPENDIX. 

Kings of England, France and Spain during the times of the colonies 228 

Presidents of the Continental Congress .... 229 

Principal officers under the Federal Constitution . . 229 

Population of the United States ..... 232 



\ 






AN 



ABRIDGED HISTORY 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



CHAPTER I. 



Voyage of the Cabots. — Origin of the claims of England to the territory 
of North America. — Florida discovered by Ponce de Leon. — Claims 
of Spain to the territory of North America. — Voyages of Verazzano and 
Cartier. — Claims of France. — The River Mississip|ii discovered. — 
Fisheries of Newfoundland. — General appearance of the country novvr 
the United States. — lis Inhabitants. — Attempts of the F'rench to colonize 
Florida. — Patent and Voyages of Sir Humphrey Gilbert. — Sir Walter 
Raleigh's attempt to plant a Colony. — Voyage of Bartholomew Gosnold. 
— Patents granted to the London and Plymouth Companies. 

The discovery of a new continent by Christopher Colum- 
bus, excited universal attention throughout Europe. 
1492 All the maritime states were eager to extend their 
commerce, and to enlarge their dominions, by ac- 
quiring territories in this new and unexplored region. The 
English people, had lately turned their attention to naviga- 
tion and commerce. They participated in the common en- 
thusiasm ; and within five years after Columbus' first voy- 
age, John Cabot and his son Sebastian, two Venetian ad- 
venturers, who had settled in England, obtained from Henry 
VIII. king of that country, a commission to undertake a 
voyage of discovery . They were furnished with two ves- 
sels by the merchants of London and Bristol ; and 
1497 having sailed westwardly, till they reached the 
island of Newfoundland, they then steered towards 
the south, and coasted along the shores of North America for 
a great distance. They erected crosses along the coast, 
and took formal possession in behalf of the crown of Eng- 



3 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

land ; but their provisions having failed, and a mutiny hav- 
ing broken out among their mariners, they returned home 
without having attempted either settlement or conquest. 

It was a rule among the European States, and is still re- 
ceived as a principle of the law of nations, that newly dis- 
covered countries belong to the discoverers. In virtue of 
this rule, and in right of the discovery by the Cabots, the 
English claimed those extensive territories in North Amer- 
ica, which they afterwards colonized. But the Reforma- 
tion, which began in England about this time, and other 
domestic affairs of great interest and importance, for a long 
time, engrossed the public attention. The voyage of the 
Cabots was almost forgotten ; and more than sixty years 
elapsed, before the English nation made any attempts to 
prosecute their American discoveries. 

Meanwhile, the coast was visited, and discoveries were 
occasionally made by various navigators. Juan 
1512 Ponce de Leon, a Spanish commander, as he was 
sailing northwardly from Porto Rico, discovered 
and named the coast of Florida.* He took possession of 
the country, in the name of his sovereign, Charles V., re- 
turned to Porto Rico, and afterwards sailed for Spain, where 
he obtained a commission, as governor of the country he 
had discovered. He returned to Florida, with the design 
of planting a colony, but had scarcely landed, when the na- 
tives attacked his company with poisoned arrows, killed 
the greater part of them, and obliged the rest to abandon 
the country. On this discovery of Ponce de Leon, the 
Spaniards founded their claims to the territory of Florida, — 
a name, which originally included all the more southerly 
part of what is now the United States. 

In 1524, John de Verazzano, a FIo'rentine,f in the em- 

* So called from its blooming appearance ; or as others say, because 
it was discovered on Palm Sunday, called by the Spaniards, Pascha 
Florida, — the feast of flowers. 

tAt this period of the world, the inhabitants of the north of Italy, the 
Venetians, Genoese and Florentines, were more engaged in commerce 
than any other people, and were much better skilled in the art of navi- 
gation. Of the adventurers, who first explored the shores of the new 
continent, Columbus, Amerigo, Verazzano, and the Cabots were Ital- 
ians. But the Italian states were already on the decline. These great 
discoverers were not employed by their native cities. They sailed in 
tke service of foreign princes ; Spain, France, and England profited by 



OP THE UNITED STATES. 3 

ploy of Francis I., king of France, sailed seven 
1524 hundred leagues, along the coast of North Amer- 
ica, and examined the shores of Florida with con- 
siderable accuracy. But in a voyage, which he made the 
next year, he and all his companions perished by some un- 
known disaster. In 1534, the French renewed 
1534 their enterprises under Jacques Cartier. This 
able navigator discovered and named the Gulf of 
St Lawrence. The next year he discovered the river Sf 
Lmcrcnce, and ascended that noble stream a distance of 
three hundred leagues. He took possession of the territo- 
ry bordering on the river, in the name of the French king ; 
built a fort, formed alliances with the natives, and winter-^ 
ed in the country. On his return, he endeavored to pre- 
vail on the king of France to send out a colony ; but a war 
was at this time, just breaking out between France and 
Spain, and the solicitations of Cartier were dis- 
1540 regarded. In 1540, however, an attempt was 
made to plant a French colony in Canada. The 
king of France entrusted the command of the enterprise 
to John Francois de la Roche. Cartier attended him, as 
pilot of the voyage. They arrived in Canada, well supplied 
with men, military stores, and provisions ; but they met 
with no success, and at the end of two years abandoned the 
enterprise. The vo}'ages and discoveries of Verazzano and 
Cartier, were the foundation of the claims of France, to the 
continent of North America. 

In 1539, Ferdinand de Soto, at that time, the Governor ' 
of Cuba, where there was a flourishing Spanish colony, land- 
ed on the coast of Florida, with an army of near a' thou- 
sand men. He fought many battles with the natives ; pen- 
etrated far into the interior; and, in the spring 
1542 of 1542, reached the banks of the Mississippt. 
Here he died ; and the remains of his army which 
had been much reduced by fatigue and hard fighting, built 
small vessels, sailed down the river, and landed at the' Span- 
ish settlements in Mexico. Soto's discoveries were not pros- 
ecuted, and more than a hundred years elapsed before the 
Mississippi was again visited by white men. 

By this time the fisheries on the banks of Nevvfound- 

thescience of Italy, and acquired vast possessions in America, where 
no Italian state ever possessed a foot of territory. 



4 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

land had become known, and were frequented 
1550 by the vessels of various nations. The fishermen 

erected huts on that island, for the convenience 
of their business ; but, as yet, no successful attempt had 
been made to settle the continent. 

In some respects, the country was little inviting. ' It was 
almost wholly covered by forests, which gave it a wild and 
dreary appearance>^ The air, hidden by the thick foliage 
from the puritying influence of the sun, became stagnant. 
In many places, unhealthy vapors rose from the waters 
and low grounds ; while the rivers, choked by fallen 
trees, and the rank vegetation which loaded their banks, 
spread" out into extensive marshes. Yet the natural advan- 
tages of the country were many. It abounded with rich 
interval lands, and extensive and fertile plains. It produ- 
ced the finest timber, and was intersected by numerous deep 
and navigable rivers. Its coasts were washed, for more 
than a thousand n iles, by the Atlantic Ocean, and furnished 
some of the best harbors in the world. 

This extensive country was very thinly inhabited by a 
race of men, to whom the Europeans gave the appellation of 
Indians. ^^'\ The Indians were divided into a great number 
of small trfbes, which had established their little towns, along 
the sea-shore, and at the falls of the rivers. These tribes 
were united in confederacies of greater or less extent ; and 
the neighboring confederacies were engaged in almost 
perpetual war. Very various and discordant languages were 
spoken by the different tribes. But they all had a strong 
resemblance in complexion and features : and their man- 
ners and way of living were everywhere, much alike. They 
v/ere ignorant of the use of metals ; they had no domestic 
animals, not even dogs ; they lived in little huts rudely 
built of bark, or the branches of trees ; and spent a consid- 
erable part of their time in complete idleness. The wo- 
men cultivated a little corn and a few vegetables, and gath- 
ered wild berries from the woods ; but the men disdained 
any other employments than fishing, hunting, and war. 

The first European settlement, within the present 
bounds of the United States, was made on the coast of 

* When Columijusdiscoverecj the continent of America, he supposed 
it to be a part of Z-idm ; andlxence the name of Indians came to be ap- 
plied to the native Americans A 



OF THE UNITED STATES. O 

1562 Florida, by a colony of French prolestants. This 
colony vVas projected by the celebrated Coligny, 
at that time, one of the principal leaders of the protes- 
tants of France. Two ships were fitted out, and placed 
under the command of John Ribault. Having landed his 
people on the coast of Florida, and built a fort for their pro- 
tection, Ribault returned home for supplies. During his 
absence, the settlers were reduced to the last extremity. Urg- 
ed to great exertions by the necessity of their situation, 
they built and rigged a rude vessel, in which they set sail for 
France. Two years after, the scheme of settlement was 
renewed. Laudonniere built fort Caroline * on the river 
of May, and planted a colony there. Ribault arrived the 
next year with supplies and reinforcements. But the coun- 
try, where this colony was planted, was claimed by Spain, 
as a part of her territory of Florida ; and a Spanish expe- 
dition, under Don Pedro Melendes, took fort Caroline by 
assault, massacred the garrison, and broke up the settle- 
ment. Melendes built three forts on the coast of Florida, 
and garrisoned them with Spanish troops. 

The King of France took no notice of this aggression. 
But the massacre of the French colonists, was avenged by 
the chevalier Dominique de Gourges, a French soldier of 
fortune, who fitted out an expedition at his own expense, 
took the Spanish forts, and put their garrisons to the sword. 
After destroying the forts, he returned home without 
1568 attempting any settlement. Thus ended the at- 
tempts of the French to colonize Florida. 
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the English peo- 
ple had made great advances in commerce and navigation. 
The spirit of adventure was revived among them; and 
serious plans for settling colonies in America, began to be 
entertained. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a gentleman 
1578 of rank and character, obtained a patent from 
the Queen, granting him ample power for this 
purpose. He made two attempts to carry his design into 
execution ; one, the same year he obtained his patent ; the 
other, in 1583. In the first expedition, he encountered a 
violent storm, lost one of his ships, and was obliged to re- 

* From this fort, the coast was called Carolina, and hence the names 
of two of the United States. The geo;^raphical situation of these ear- 
ly French colonies is not very accurately ascertained. 
1* 



6 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

turn without crossing the Atlantic. In a second he reach- 
ed St Johns, in the island of Newfoundland, 

1583 where he found about thirty vessels of different 
nations engaged in carrying on the fisheries. He 

took possession of the island in the name ofQ,ueen Eliza- 
beth, and made some preparations for establishing a colo- 
ny ; but on his voyage home, the vessel in which he sailed 
foundered at sea, and all on board perished. 

Not discouraged by these mischances, Sir Walter Ra- 
leigh, Gilbert's half brother, and the companion of his first 
voyage, a man of such enterprise and abilities as render 
him famous in the history of England, obtained a new pa- 
tent from the Queen, similar to that which had 

1584 been granted to Gilbert. He immediately des- 
patched Amidas and Barlow, two experienced 

commanders, to examine the country he intended to settle. 
Having arrived, after a prosperous voyage, on the coast of 
what is now North Carolina, they touched, first, at an 
island, which they called Wocokon, and afterwards at Roan- 
oke , near the entrance of Albermarle Sound. At both 
places, they traded with the natives, who received them with 
the greatest hospitality. The splendid descriptions, given 
by Amidas and Barlow, of the country they had visited, so 
delighted Elizabeth, that she bestowed on it the name of 
Virginia, as a memorial of its discovery during the reign 
of a virgin queen. 

The success of this voyage inspired Raleigh with new 
zeal. Early the next spring, he fitted out seven 

1585 ships, under the command of Sir Richard Gren- 
ville, well furnished with everything necessary to 

begin a settlement. Grenville arrived on the coast in 
June; and having spent some time in exploring the coun- 
try, fixed on Roanoke, an incommodious station, without 
any safe harbor, as the place for establishing the colony. 
He left here 108 men, under the command of Mr Lane, 
and in August, returned to England. 

Instead of cultivating the ground, the colonists employed 
themselves in searching for mines of gold and silver. They 
quarrelled, too, with the natives; their provisions began 
to fail ; and their situation had become very uncomfortable, 
when they were visited by Sir Francis Drake, the celebra- 
ted English Admiral, who was returning from a successful 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 7 

expedition against the Spaniards in the West 
15S6 Indies. He received the discouraged colonists 
on board his fleet, and set sail for England. 
Lane and his companions, by constant intercourse with 
the Indians, had acquired a habit of using tobacco. They 
carried a quantity home with them, and taught their coun- 
trymen the method of using it. In a few years its use 
became very general, and it has ever formed one of the 
chief staples of the Southern States. 

Soon after the departure of Drake, Grenville arrived at 
Roanoke, bringing ample supplies of men and provisions. 
Having searched in vain for the colony he had left, he 
landed a number of men with provisions for two years, in 
order to retain possession of the country, and then returned 
home. 

Notwithstanding the ill success which had thus far at- 
tended his efforts at planting a colony, Raleigh was not yet 
discouraged. He fitted out a new expedition, under the 
command of Captain White, consisting of three ships and 
115 colonists. They landed at Roanoke, and repaired the 
houses of the former adventurers, which still remained 
standing. White returned home to obtain further supplies. 
But he found the nation in universal alarm. Philip II. 
of Spain was assembling a great fleet, with an intention 
to invade England ; and all were too much engrossed 
with fears for their own safety, to attend to any more re- 
mote object. It was three years before supplies 
1590 were sent to Roanoke, and when they arrived, 
not one of the colonists was found alive. They 
had perished by famine, or by the attack of the neighbor- 
ing Indians. 

No further attempts to colonize America were made, till 
in 1602, the voyage of Bartholomew Gosnold re- 
1602 j23.vived, again, the spirit of adventure. It had 
hitherto been the custom, in sailing for Virginia, 
to steer first, for the West Indies, Gosnold avoided this 
unnecessary circuit, and was the first English commander, 
who reached the continent by a direct course. He discov- 
ered Cftpe Cod; landed on the coast, and visited several of 
the adjacent islands. Having returned to England, he 
gave so inviting a description of the country he had visited, 
that new plans for the establishment of colonies, began to 



8, AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

be formed. Richard Hacluyt, a clergyman of distinguished 
learning and intelligence, contributed much, by able and 
judicious measures, and especially by a valuable collection 
of voyages, published about this time, to give popularity to 
this new project of settlement. 

James I. had now succeeded to the throne of England. 
He divided Virginia, (under which name the whole coast, 
south of Newfoundland, was included) into two colonies, 
the Northern and Southern; and established two companies, 
for the purpose of making settlements, called the London 
and Plymouth companies. The London company was au- 
thorized to establish colonies in south Virginia; north Vir- 
ginia was assigned to the Plymouth company. 



CHAPTER II. 



Newport's Firsc Voyage. — First Permanent Colony Landed in Virginia. 

— Jamestown Buili. — Captain Smith. — His Adventures among the 
Indians. — Wretched State of the Colony. — Arrival of Lord Delaware. 

— Administration of Argal and \ eardly. — First Colonial Assembly. — 
Prosperity of the Colony. — Massacre. — Indian War. — Virginia be- 
comes a Royal Province. — Administration of Wyat, Hervey and. Sir 
William Berkley. — Grant and Settlement of Maiyland. 

As soon as the London company had obtained their 
charter, they fitted out three vessels under the 
1607 command of Christopher Newport, and put on 
board a hundred emigrants, and the necessary 
materials for establishing a colony. Newport sailed for 
Roanoke, but, by a fortunate storm was driven into Ches- 
aijeciTce hay, which was now, for the first time, visited by 
Europeans. After exploring the country, the emigrants 
determined to settle on the river Powhatan. They selected 
a spot about fifty miles up the river, cut down the trees, 
built houses, and thus laid the foundation of the 
May 13 first permanent English town established in Ame- 
rica. In honor of king James they called it 
JamestoiDu; and the river on which it stood, they named 
James River. Notwithstanding its antiquity, Jamestown 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



9 



never became either populous or opulent, and it has now, 
for several years, been entirely deserted.* 

The colony was to be governed by a president and 
council. But the council itself was soon involved in dis- 
putes, and Captain Smith, the most able man of their num- 
ber, on some frivolous pretence, was excluded from his 
seat. These disorders were, in some degree composed, by 
the judicious management of Mr Hunt, the chaplain. But 
the colony soon began to suffer from want of provisions, 
from disease, and the hostility of the natives. Wingfield, 
the president, was detected in an attempt to escape 
in their only vessel. He was deposed, and Captain 
Ratcliffe chosen in his place. But in the present danger 
and distress, the talents of Smith, the very man whom, a 
little while before, they had attempted to exclude from the 
council, because so conspicuous, that all real authority was 
entrusted in his hands. He inspired the others with a por- 
tion of his own spirit ; built such fortifications as were ne- 
cessary to resist the sudden attacks of the Indians, and as 
the season for gathering corn approached, penetrated into 
the surrounding country, at the head of small parties, and 
by presents and caresses, among the well disposed part of 
the natives, and open force among the hostile, obtained 
abundant supplies. 

On one of these expeditions, as he was exploring the head 
of the Chickahominy river, attended by a single Indian 
guide, he was surrounded by a large party of the natives, and 
after a gallant defence, was taken prisoner. They would 
have killed him on the spot ; but he showed them a mariner's 
compass, which so excited their admiration, that, for the 
present, they spared his life. They carried him before Pow- 
hatan, the principal sachem, or chief, in that neighborhood, 
who received him with great ceremony. He was carefully at- 
tended; water was brought in which to wash his hands ; 
and he was feasted in the best Indian fashion. But not- 
withstanding all this apparent kindness, after much consul- 
tation, it was determined that he should be put to death. 
He was dragged to the ground, and his head placed upon 
a stone. A club was raised to dash out his brains ; when 

* In 1807, when the 200th anniversary of ihe settlement of Virginia 
was celebrated, the only remaining vestiges of Jamestown, were a few 
old tombstones, and the ruins of a church steeple. 



10 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

Pocahontas, the sachem's favorite daughter, a child but ten 
or twelve years old, notable to save him by her prayers and 
entreaties, rushed through the crowd, clasped his head in 
her arms, and laying her own upon it, arrested the fatal 
blow. By this act of generous impulse, she prevailed on 
her father to spare his life; and after a great many cere- 
monies between him and the Indians, he was sent back, in 
safety, to Jamestown. 

He found the colony in great distress, and reduced to 
thirtyeight persons, who were just on the point of abandon- 
ing the country. By mingled threats and entreaties, he 
persuaded them to remain. He obtained from the Indians, 
among whom he was now in great esteem, an abundant 
supply of provisions ; and preserved plenty in the colony 
till Newport arrived, with, two vessels, bringing supplies 
and reinforcements. The arrival of Newport gave great 
relief and joy to the colonists. But their prospects were 
soon overcast ; for unluckily, about this time, they discov- 
ered, in the bed of a small stream near Jamestown, a glit- 
tering earth, which they mistook for gold dust. A sort of 
universal phrensy was excited by this discovery ; everything 
else was neglected ; and there was no thought or conversa- 
tion but about digging, washing, and refining gold. A 
ship was despatched to England laden with fancied wealth. 
But, in the meantime, the colonists suffered severely from 
the severity of the winter ; their store-house was acciden- 
tally burned, and they were reduced to great distress. 

During the next summer. Smith was employed in exploring 
the Chesapeake Bay. He sailed more than three 

1608 thousand miles, in an open boat, and examined, 
with the greatest care and labor, every river and 

inlet, on both sides the bay. He drew an excellent map of 
Ids discoveries, which he transmitted to England, accom- 
panied with a description of the country and inhabitants. 
On his return from this expedition, he was chosen presi- 
dent of the colony. 

The London Company, though little pleased with the 
success of their efforts, resolved still to persevere. 

1609 They obtained a new charter ; a large number of 
noblemen and merchants were added to the com- 
pany; and nine ships, with 900 emigrants, and a supply of 
provisions, sailed for Virginia, under the joint command of 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 11 

Newport, Somers and Gates. The vessel, on board of 
which were the three commanders, encountered a violent 
storm, and was cast away on one of the Bermuda islands. 
The other ships arrived in safety. Many of the company 
that came in them, were poor gentlemen, broken tradesmen, 
rakes and libertines, men little calculated to advance the 
prosperity of the enterprise. Headed by a number of seditious 
persons, who aspired to the chief command, they threw the 
colony into the utmost confusion, and it was only by very 
vigorous measures, that Smith was enabled to maintain his 
authority. 

To rid himself, in part, of these troublesome guests, he 
established two new settlements, one at the falls of James 
River,* the other, at Nasemond.t The new settlers con- 
ducted with so little judgment, as soon to make all the 
neighboring Indians their enemies. A plot was formed for 
the destruction of the whole colony. But it was defeated 
by the wisdom of Smith, and the fidelity of Pocahontas, 
who, in a dark and stormy night, went to Jamestown at the 
hazard of her life, and informed the colonists of their dan- 
ger. Smith had the address to bring about a peace ; but 
the colony was soon after deprived of his faithful services. 
As he was sleeping in his boat, his powder bag took fire, 
and he was so severely wounded by the explosion, as to be 
confined to his bed. There was no surgeon in Virginia, 
skilful enough to heal his wounds, and he found himself 
obliged to embark for England. 

The colony, when Smith left it, consisted of 500 inhab- 
itants, well supplied with arms and provisions; but by their 
own folly and insubordination, they were soon reduced to 
the greatest extremities. They experienced all the miseries 
of famine, and for many years after, this period was well 
remembered by the name of The Starving Time. In six 
months, there were only sixty colonists alive ; and these so 
feeble and dejected, that without relief they could not have 
survived ten days longer. They were rescued from this 
calamitous situation by Gates, Somers and New- 
1610 port, who arrived from Bermuda the 24th of May. 
It was immediately determined to abandon the 

* Near the present situation of Richmond. 

f On the river Nasemond, not far from where Norfolk now stands. 



12 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

country, and the few remaining colonists had embarked on 
board the vessels just arrived from Bermuda, when Lord 
Delaware, who had been appointed governor of the colony, 
came up the river with three ships, and a supply of men 
and provisions. He prevailed on them to return, and by a 
judicious exercise of authority, once more restored order 
and contentment. 

For the next three years, the colony kept along without 

making any great advances, but in 1613, two 
1613 events occurred of great and lasting importance. 

The first of these events, was the marriage of Mr 
Rolfe, one of the settlers, with Pocahontas, the young In- 
dian woman to whom the colony was already so much in- 
debted. This marriage secured a firm and lasting peace 
with the Indians. Pocahontas embraced Christianity, and 
was carried by her husband to England, where she received 
the greatest attentions. Several of the most respectable 
families of Virginia, boast their descent from this marriage. 
The other event above alluded to, was the distribution of 
land among the planters, who were thus induced to much 
greater industry than when all the land was held in com- 
mon, as had hitherto been the case, and all the produce 
carried into a common grainery. 

Still, the progress of the colony was by no means rapid. 

For when governor Argal arrived in Virginia, he 
1617 found the public buildings at Jamestown fallen 

to decay, and only five or six private houses fit to 
be inhabited. The planters, who did not exceed 400, were 
principally employed in cultivating tobacco ; and were dis- 
persed in various places, as best suited their convenience 
or caprice. Argal's government was extremely severe. 

He was succeeded by Yeardley ; who called the 

1619 first colonial assembly of Virginia. It consisted 
of the Governor, the council, and delegates from 

the different plantations which, at this time, were seven 
in number. 

Hitherto but few females had crossed the Atlantic. But 
in 1620, a large number of girls were brought 

1620 over, and disposed of among the young planters. 
The price of a wife was, at first, one hundred 

pounds of tobacco ; but as the planters learned, by expe- 
rience, the sweets of matrimony, the demand for wives in- 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 13 

Creased, and the price rose to one hundred and fifty 
pounds. The same year, a Dutch vessel brought twenty 
negroes to Jamestown, and exposed them for sale. This 
was the beginning of negro slavery in Virginia. 

During the next three years, numerous planters arrived 
from England, and the settlements were extended along 
the banks of James and York Rivers, and even as far as 
the Rappahannoc and Potomac. But this ill-fated colony 
was doomed to experience yet another severe reverse of 
fortune. Powhatan, the Indian sachem, was now dead. 
He had been succeeded by his brother, Opechancanough, a 
bold and cunning chief, extremely hostile to the English. 
A plan w^as formed for the total destruction of the planters. 
Unsuspicious of danger, they had neglected all precau- 
tions ; had laid aside their military exercises, and 
1622 were on the most familiar terms with the Indians. 

On the 22d of May, 1622, Opechancanough and 
his warriors, fell, at once, on every settlement, and mur- 
dered, without distinction of age or sex. The massacre 
would have been complete, had not the conspiracy, the 
night before it was carried into execution, been betrayed 
by one of the Indians, in season to save Jamestown, and a 
few of the neighboring settlements. To this massacre, a 
bloody Indian war succeeded. The settlements were re- 
duced from eighty to eight, and famine was added to their 
other distresses. Succors from England saved them from 
total destruction. After a severe struggle, the Indians 
were subdued ; many tribes were exterminated, and the 
rest were driven from the neighborhood of the rivers, so 
that the settlements extended themselves in safety.* 

* The Virginian Indians were divided into more than forty tribes, 
and these tribes were combined into three principal confederacies. 
The Powhatan, confederacy consisted of thirty tribes, and inhabited the 
country between Chesapeake Bay and tlie falls of the rivers. Powhatan 
and his brother Opechancanough were the head sachems of this con- 
federacy. It was with the Powhatan Indians that the war mentioned 
above was carried on ; it terminated in their almost entire destruction. 
The other two confederacies were the Mannahoacs, Qon-^isnng of eight 
tribes, who inhabited the upper courses of the Rappahannoc and Poto- 
mac ; and the Monacans, who numbered five tribes, and dwelt on the 
upper part of James River. These two confederacies had fewer tribes 
than the Powhatans, with whom they Avaged a ceaseless war, but seem 
to have equalled them in numbers and power. 
Q 



14 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

In 1624, the London Company was dissolved ; and the 

king having assumed the government of the co!o- 
1624 ny into his own hands, appointed a governor and 

eleven councillors, in whom all authority was 
vested. 

Two successive governors, Wyat and Harvey, exercised 
this extensive authority in such an arbitrary and tyrannical 
manner, as entirely to disgust the colonists. On one occa- 
sion, in a fit of passion, they seized Harvey and sent him 
a prisoner to England. At length, Sir William Berkeley 

was appointed governor. He restored the pro- 
1639 vincial assembly ; and by the mildness of his 

temper, the gentleness of his manners, and the 
judicious plan on which he administered the government, 
gained a universal popularity. Under his rule, the Vir- 
ginians enjoyed many years of peace and prosperity. 

In the English civil wars, the colony of Virginia 

took part with the king; but was obliged to 
1652 submit to a force, which the parliament sent 

against it. Sir William Berkeley who had made 
all the resistance he was able, and by so doing, had ob- 
tained very favorable terms for the colony, retired to pri- 
vate life, and Virginia remained nearly nine years in almost 
perfect tranquillity, under governors appointed by the colo- 
nial assembly. The names of these governors were Bennet, 
Diggs and Mathews. During that period, the colony 
enjoyed an unrestrained trade, and its population was in- 
creased by the arrival of many persons attached to the 
royal party, many of them gentlemen of good families, who 
left England, in order to avoid the dangers they were ex- 
posed to there, or in hopes to repair their shattered for- 
tunes. On the death of Mathews, SirWilliam Berkeley, 
the old and favorite governor, was prevailed on by the 

assembly to resume his office ; and the restoration 
1660 happening the next year, Charles II. confirmed 

his authority. At the restoration, Virginia con- 
tained a population of 30,000 people. 

One of the causes, which, during the government of 
Harvey, had disquieted Virginia, was the grant of Ma- 
ryland, * to Lord Baltimore. Few as was the number 

* So named from Henrietta Maria, then Queen of England. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 15 

of the Virginians, and small as was the extent of their 
settlements, they could not bear to have the original 
limit of their colony contracted. But, Charles I., the 
reigning king, paid little attention to the wishes of 
his subjects whether at home or abroad. The grant 
of Maryland was made in 1632; and two 
1634 years after, a colony of two hundred gentlemen, 
with their attendants, chiefly Roman Catholics, 
under George Calvert, brother of Lord Baltimore, 
landed near the mouth of the Potomac. They entered into 
a treaty with the natives, purchased of them a tract of ter- 
ritory, and built a town, to which they gave the name of 
St Mari/'s. The growth of this colony, unlike that of 
Virginia, was steady and rapid. The government was judi- 
ciously administered, and complete toleration was allowed in 
matters of religion, j^n Indian war, in which the colony was 
engaged, terminated in the entire submission of the natives. 
The intrigues of a certain Wm. Clayborne, who had estab- 
lished a small settlement on the isle of Kent, in the Chesa- 
peake, and who was unwilling to submit to the authority of 
Lord Baltimore, bred some disturbances; and the proprietor 
of Maryland, having sided with the king during the civil 
wars, he was deprived, by the victorious parlia- 
1652 ment, of the government of the colony. The 
colonists held the same opinions with Lord Bal- 
timore, and the parliamentary government was not submit- 
ted to without great reluctance. An insurrection 
1658 was raised by one Josiah Feudal, who had been 
appointed governor by the proprietor; and for two 
or three years, the affairs of Maryland remained in a state 
of great confusion; but at the restoration, things reverted 
to their former state. The province was restored to Lord 
Baltimore, and he appointed Philip Calvert to be 
1660 its governor. At this time, the province of Mary- 
land contained 12,000 inhabitants. 



16 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 



CHAPTER III. 



Plymouth Company. — The Puritans. — Plymouth Colony. — Other At- 
tempts to Colonize New England. — Colony of Massachusetts Bay. — 
Boston founded. — First Settlements in Connecticut. — Providence 
founded. — Pequod War. — Internal Disputes. — Mrs Hutchinson. — 
Settlement of Rhode Island. — New Hampshire. — Colony of New 
Haven. — Harvard College founded. — Emigration from England 
ceases. — Union of the New England Colonies. — Province of Maine. — 
Indians of New England. — Praying Indians. — Persecution of the 
Quakers. — State of the English Colonies at the Restoration. 

Having, in the preceding chapter, related the origin, and 
traced the progress of the two oldest southern colonies, let 
us now take a brief view of those which were planted far- 
ther north. 

The Plymouth Company was far inferior to that of Lon- 
don in wealth and enterprise ; and all its attempts at 
colonization were feeble and unfortunate. The first vessel, 
fitted out by the company, was taken by the Spaniards. 
Soon after, they succeeded in establishing a small 
1607 colony at Sagahadoc, on the coast of Maine, near 

the mouth of the river Kennebec. But the settlers 
suffered so much the first winter, from cold and hunger, that 
when vessels arrived in the spring, bringing supplies of men 
and provisions, they all embarked, and returned to England. 

Nothing further was attempted by the company for seve- 
ral years, except a few fishing voyages to Cape Cod, and a 
petty traffic with the natives for oil and skins. In 
1614 1614, Captain Suiith, who has been so often 

mentioned in the history of Virginia, was sent on 
one of these voyages. He explored the coast from Penob- 
scot River, as far south as Cape Cod. On his return, he 
drew a map of his discoveries, which he presented to 
Prince Charles, the same person who was afterwards king 
of England, under the title of Charles I. This young 
Prince, delighted with Smith's glowing descriptions, be- 
stowed on the country the name of New England, — a 
name it has ever since retained. 

In 16*20, a new charter was granted to the Plymouth 
company, by which it received the name of ^ The 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 17 

1620 Council established at Plymouth, in the county of 
Devon, for the planting, ruling, ordering, and gov- 
erning of New England, in America.' But the first perma- 
nent settlements within the limits of their charter, grew 
out of causes over which the company had no control. 

Though the church of England had renounced the errors 
of popery, it still retained a large number of rights and cer- 
emonies, borrowed from the service of the Catholic church. 
These ceremonies were regarded with great dislike by 
many learned and pious men. They looked upon them as 
dangerous remnants of the popish creed ; and if their scru- 
ples were unreasonable, at least, they were sincere. The 
number of those, who entertained these opinions gradually 
increased, till at length, they came to form a party in the 
state. They received the name of Puritans, as if in deris- 
ion of that peculiar purity of doctrines and manners, by 
which they sought to be distinguished. Though the puri- 
tans disliked the church service, it was with great reluc- 
tance that they separated from the church ; but, at last, they 
were driven to it by the folly of those, to whom the church 
government was entrusted. Instead of yielding to the 
scruples of the puritans, and permitting them to dis- 
pense with the more odious part of the service, the bishops 
enforced the most trifling ceremonies, with the greatest 
strictness, and added new rites still more odious ; punishing 
with fine and imprisonment all who refused obedience to 
their decrees. The obstinacy of the puritans increased, 
just in proportion to the severity of the bishops ; till at 
length, many of them began to form plans for leaving a coun- 
try, where liberty of conscience was no longer to be enjoyed. 

A congregation, under the care of Mr Robinson, which 
belonged to a sect, called the JSrowmsts* was the first to 
emigrate. They settled in Holland, the year in 1609. They 
were well received, and were permitted to enjoy their pecu- 
liar opinions unmolested. But they did not like the loose 
morals, and free manners of the Dutch ; their children left 
them and entered the Dutch army and navy ; and their 
church was in danger of soon becoming extinct. After 

* The Brownists were a sect, who carried the doctrines of the puri- 
tans to a greater extreme, than the rest of their brethren. They were 
the first to separate entirely from the English church. 

2* 



18 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

eleven or twelve years' residence in Holland, they determined 
to remove to America. A grant of territory was obtained from 
the London company ; some London merchants, who took a 
share in the enterprise, advanced a sum of money ; and in 
1G20, a part of the congregation passed over to England, 
whence, on the 5th of August, they set sail in the ships 
Speedwell and May Flower, on their voyage to America. 
The leakiness of the Speedwell obliged them twice, to 
return ; and at last, they were compelled to leave her behind. 
The May Flower recommenced her voyage, and after a 
boisterous passage, she msde the land of Cape Cod, Novem- 
ber the 9th, and three days after, came to anchor in Cape 
Cod harbor. The colonists had intended to settle near the 
mouth of Hudson river ; but the master of the ship, bribed, 
it is said, by the Dutch, who had settlements in that neigh- 
borhood, had purposely carried them farther north. 

Finding themsehes beyond the limits of the com- 
pany, from whom they had obtained their charter, they 
judged it expedient, before landing, to enter into an agree- 
ment, which might serve as a foundation of their social 
polity. Accordingly, after solemn prayer and tJianksgiv- 
ing, they signed a paper, by which they combined them- 
selves into a body politic, and mutually promised to submit 
to all such just and equal laws and ordinances, as should, 
fi-om time to time, be thought meet and convenient for the 
general good. Mr Carver was chosen the first governor, 
including men, women and children, the whole colony con- 
sisted of 101 souls. 

Five weeks were spent in exploring the country ; and 
after much labor and fatigue, having discovered Plymouth 
harbor, they determined to settle there. Accordingly, the 
ship sailed thither, and the peoi)le having landed, were soon 
busy in felling trees, and erecting houses. For greater secu- 
rity, they built their houses in two rows, and as they 
1621 were in some fear of the Indians, they established 
the needful military orders, and chose Miles Stand- 
ish to be their commander. The town was named Neio Ply- 
mouth ; the colony was known as the Plymouth Colony, and 
the settlers themselves are often distinguished by the name 
O^the Pilgrims. 

On the 16th of March, an Indian came boldly into the 
street of Pylmouth, alone and unarmed, and surprised the 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 19 

inhabitants by calling out, ' Welcome, Englishmen ! Wel- 
come, Englishmen !' They had seen Indians before in the 
woods, but this was the first, with whom they had any 
intercourse. His name was Samoset ; he was a Saga- 
more, or petty chief, of a neighboring tribe, and had learn- 
ed a little English of the fishermen, who frequented the 
coast. By his assistance, the colony became acquainted 
with Massasoit, the great chief of the Pocanokets or Wam- 
panoags, a powerful tribe or confederacy, which inhabited 
the country extending westwardly from the neighborhood 
of Plymouth, towards the shores of Narraganset bay. Mu- 
tual distrust, prevented, for a while, any advances on either 
side. But an interview at length took place between gover- 
nor Carver and Massasoit; presents were exchanged, and a 
league of friendship formed, which was faithfully observed 
by both parties, for more than fifty years. 

An intercourse with the fishing and trading vessels, that 
frequented their coast, had introduced the small pox among 
the Indians, who dwelt along the shores of Massachusetts 
bay. The distemper proved very fatal ; and many tribes, 
especially those belonging to the Massachusetts confedera- 
cy, were almost destroyed by it. The country along the 
sea coast was thus left vacant, and the power and numbers 
of those tribes, which would have felt the most immediate 
interest in preventing the settlement of the country, was 
greatly diminished. Some of Massasoit's dependent sa- 
chems opposed his alliance with the English; but Miles 
Standish, at the head o^ fourteen men, marched into their 
country, and by his activity and vigor, inspired such terror, 
that nine petty chiefs came to Plymouth to make their 
peace with the colony ; and their example was soon after fol- 
lowed by several others. 

The winter was so severe, and the colonists were so ill 
provided against it, that within the first three months after 
landing, they lost more than half their number ; among the 
rest, Mr Carver, their governor. Mr Bradford was cho- 
sen to supply his place. The November following, a ship 
arrived from England bringing a seasonable supply of thirty- 
five new colonists. A new charter for the colony, granted 
by the council of Plymouth, came out in the same vessel. 

Notwithstanding the friendship of Massasoit, some 
other of the Indians, especially the Narragansets, a numer- 



20 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

1622 ous and powerful tribe, were ill disposed towards 
the settlers. It was therefore judged expedient, 

to fortify the town, by surrounding it with a fence of tim- 
bers driven into the earth. This fortification had four 
gates, which were guarded by day and locked by 

1623 night. Soon after, a small fort was built, on 
which cannon were mounted, and a regular guard 

kept. 

The Massachusetts Indians, having formed a new com- 
bination against the colony. Miles Standish was sent upon 
an expedition against them. He killed several ; dispers- 
ed the rest ; and succeeded in disconcerting all their plans. 
Several ships arrived, this year, laden with goods and pas- 
sengers. 

Plymouth had now been settled four years ; it contained 
thirtytwo dwelling-houses, and 180 people. 

1624 At first, the settlers held their land, and all 
their other property, in common. But learning 

by experience, the ill effects of this system, they now made 
a distribution of goods, and allotted a portion of land to 

each settler. In 1627, they purchased of the Lon- 
1627 don merchants, who had assisted them with 

money and goods, their share in the colony. The 
price was j£]800, to be paid in annual instalments of 
£200 each. On this occasion a further distribution of the 
common property took place. They built a trading house 
on the south shore of Cape Cod, and another at the mouth 
of the river Kennebec ; and carried on a considerable trade 
with the Eastern Indians, and with the Dutch, who were 
established at the mouth of the Hudson. Several years 
after, they established trading houses on Connecticut river ; 
and the first house built within the state of Connec- 
ticut, was erected, in 1633, by a trading company from 
Plymouth. 

The settlers of Plymouth were on many accounts, re- 
markable men. They persevered, despite of dangers and 
suffering, in their purpose of planting a church and a com- 
monwealth, in the wilderness ; and might justly say of 
themselves, as they did, in their petition to the council of 
Plymouth, for a patent of the territory they had colonized, 
' that it was not with them, as with other men, whom small 
things could discourage, or small discontents cause to 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 21 

wish themselves at home again.' Their colony increased 
but slowly, for they were more desirous of preserving the 
purity of their church, than of increasing the numbers 
of their people. Besides, the soil of their territory was 
barren, and in this respect, much inferior to that of the 
neighboring colonies. 

Soon after the settlement of Plymouth, several other at- 
tempts were made to colonize the shores of New England. 
Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and captain John Mason, obtained 
several grants of territory from the council of Plymouth, 
and made some attempts to establish a colony near the 
mouth of Piscataqua river. In 1622, a plantation was be- 
gun at Wissagnsset, smce called Weymouth,* by Mr Wes- 
ton, a London merchant. In 1624, Mr White, a noncon- 
forming minister of Dorchester in England, persuaded a 
number of merchants and others, to attempt the establish- 
ment of a colony in America, and a settlement, at their ex- 
pense, was begun at Cajye Ann. In 1625, Captain Wolles- 
ton, with a few followers, began a plantation at Mount Wolles- 
ton.-f But these, and other similar settlements, undertaken 
by various individuals and associations, were principally 
for purposes of trade and the fishery, and were of little con-, 
sequence, compared with the colony of Massachusetts 
Bay, which soon after began to be planted. 

The persecution of the English puritans still continued. 
Archbishop Laud, a narrow minded and bigoted man, was 
now at the head of the English church. He prosecuted 
with unrelenting severity, every symptom of disrespect for 
the prescribed ceremonies ; and made it impossible for 
those, who were inclined to the puritanical doctrines, to 
remain at home with comfort or safety. Accordingly, a 
large number of persons, many of thorn men of education 
and property, began to think of seeking in America, a 
refuge from the intolerance which prevailed at home. In 
1628, the council of Plymouth sold to Sir Henry 
1628 Roswell and five associates, a large tract of coun- 
try, bounded on the north and south, by the riv- 
ers Merrimack and Charles, and stretching to an indefinite 
extent westwardly. Through the influence of Mr White, the 

* Weymouth is ten miles south from Boston. 

f Mount Wolleston is in Quincy, eight miles southeast from BostoriK 



22 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

nonconforming minister of Dorchester, Roswell and his 
associates, united with Sir Richard Saltonstall, and several 
gentlemen of London, and the same year, Mr John Endi- 
cott was sent, with a number of people, to prepare the way 
for the settlement of a colony. He landed at Naumheag^ 
and there laid the foundation of the second permanent town 
in New England. He called the town Salem, in allusion 
to that peaceful enjoyment of their peculiar opinions, of 
which the colonists were in pursuit. 

The king's charter was obtained, confirming the Massa- 
chusetts grant, and under this charter, the pa- 

1629 tentees formed themselves into a company, and 
chose a governor, deputy governor, and eighteen 

assistants. In the course of the summer, six ships, with 
three hundred colonists, sailed for New England. Half 
the new comers remained at Salem ; the other half remov- 
ed to a peninsula near the mouth of Charles river, called 
Miskawum, which had been visited and examined the year 
before by a party from Salem. Here they laid the founda- 
tion of a town, which, in honor of the king of Eng- 
land, they named Charlestoivn. In the meantime a 
plan M'as formed in England, for transferring the govern- 
ment of the company to Massachusetts; and the 

1630 next year, seventeen ships sailed for New Eng- 
land, having on board more than 1500 people. 

In these ships came governor Winthrop, deputy governor 
Dudley, several of the newly chosen assistants, and other 
gentlemen of wealth and distinction, who brought over with 
them, the charter of the colony. The greater part of these 
emigrants landed at Charlestown, but a number of 
them soon moved across the river to a Peninsula, called 
by the Indians Shaiomut, and by the English Trimoun- 
tain, — but afterwards named Boston* Others formed dis- 
tinct settlements in such parts of the neighboring country, 
as they found inviting and convenient. Dorchester, Water- 
town, Roihiiri/, Medforcl, and Cambridge, all in the immedi- 
ate vicinity of Boston, were among the towns earliest 
settled. The first court of assistants, after the government 
of the colony was transferred to America, was held at 

* From Boston, in England, whence came Mr Cotton, one of the 
principal ministers of the colony. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 23 

Charlestown on the 23d of August, and the second, at the 
same place, on the 7th of September. But Boston soon be- 
came the chief town of the colony, and the first General 
Court of Massachusetts, was holden there, on the 19th of 
October. The settlers endured great hardships from want 
of proper food and shelter, and great numbers not able to 
bear this new mode of life, died the first winter. 

The rigorous persecution of the puritans still continued. 
For several years following, large numbers of people came 
annually from England, and the settlements were rapidly 
extended. The general character of the Massachusetts 
colonists, their manners and religious opinions, were simi- 
lar to those of the settlers at Plymouth; but they were far 
superior in education, wealthy and the means of planting a 
colony. 

By the Massachusetts charter, all the freemen of the col- 
ony, were to assemble four times a year, for the election of 
governor and other officers, and for the enactment of laws. 
As the settlements extended, the inconvenience 

1634 of this system was felt ; and in 1634, it was 
agreed by general consent, that while the free- 

i7ien retained the right of electing the magistrates, and as- 
sembled once a year for that purpose, the power of making 
laws should be transferred to a representative body, to be 
composed of delegates from the several plantations. These 
deputies, together with the governor and the eighteen assist- 
ants, composed the General Court for the enactment of laws ; 
while the governor and assistants, without the deputies, 
composed the Court of Assistants, the principal judicial tri- 
bunal, in the colony. 

In 1635 the council of Plymouth surrendered their 
charter to the king ; but they had already giant- 

1635 ed away to other persons, a large part of the ter- 
ritory embraced within its limits. 

The inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay were now so nu- 
merous, that the new comers found it difficult to pitch upon 
convenient places for settlement. Several persons had al- 
ready travelled a hundred miles or more into the interior, 
and discovered the river Connecticut. They represented 
the country on its banks to be so extremely inviting, that a 
number of the Massachusetts settlers determined to remove 
thither. The first party, consisting of sixty, — men, women 



'24 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

and children, — began their journey in the month of Octo- 
ber. They travelled through the woods on foot, with no 
other guide than the compass, driving their horses and 
cattle before them. After a dangerous and fatiguing jour- 
ney of fourteen days, they arrived on the banks of the Con- 
necticut, and founded the towns of Windsor ?ind Weathcrs- 
Jield. The next year, another company under Mr Hooker, 
a celebrated minister, travelled through the wilderness, and 
founded the town of Hartford. This was the origin of the 
colony of Connecticut. The government of this new col- 
ony was organized under a commission from Massachusetts ; 
but within two or three years the settlers, finding them- 
selves beyond the limits of the Massachusetts charter, es- 
tablished a separate government. The first assembly of 
Connecticut met at Hartford, in 1639, on which occasion, 
they enacted a body of laws, and chose Mr John Haynes 
to be their first governor. 

The territory of Connecticut had been granted, in 1631, by 
the council of Plymouth, to Lord Say, Lord Brook, and seve- 
ral others. They did nothing toward settling a colony till 
163t5, when they sent a number of men from England, and 
caused Fort Say brook to be built at the mouth of Connecticut 
river. The settlers from Massachusetts w^ere within the limit 
of this patent; but as the persons to whom it belonged were 
themselves puritans, and well disposed towards the people 
of that colony, the emigrants from Massachusetts were 
not disturbed in their new settlements. The Dutch, who 
were settled at the mouth of the Hudson, claimed the 
country along the Connecticut, and had exerted themselves 
to prevent the English from settling on the banks of that 
river. As early as 1633, they had built a fort, called Fort 
Hope, near the present situation of Hartford, and they 
were about taking possession of the entrance of the river, 
when they were prevented by the erection of Fort Say- 
brook. The Dutch maintained themselves at Fort Hope 
till 1642, when the garrison were taken prisoners, and the 
fort seized by the people of Connecticut in retaliation for 
certain hostilities, which the Dutch had committed upon 
their settlements on Long Island. In 1644, the people of 
Connecticut purchased in the right of Lord Say, and the 
other English proprietors of their territory, and thus ac- 
quired an undisputed title. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 25 

In 1636, the town and colony of Providence were founded 
by Roger Williams, formerly minister of Salem. 
1636 Roger Williams had settled first at Plymouth, 
where he was for some time very much esteemed; 
but having advanced some singular opinions, he became 
unpopular, and removed to Salem. He had not been long 
there, before he again brought forward his peculiar notions. 
Among other things, he persuaded Mr Endicott, who was 
one of the magistrates and a member of his church, to cut 
the cross out of the king's colors, as being a badge that 
savored too much of popery. But his greatest offence was, 
his denying any church in the colony to be pure, and a 
true church, except the one at Salem, over which he him- 
self presided. By these and similar indiscretions, he 
gained the ill will of the leading ministers and magistrates 
of the colony. Endeavors were used to reclaim him ; but 
not being willing to renounce his peculiarities, at length he 
was banished. He obtained a grant of land from Canoni- 
cus, chief sachem of the Narragansets, at a place called 
3IoosJiausick, and, with a few companions, began a settle- 
ment, which he named Providence, in acknowledgment, as 
he declared, ' of God's merciful providence towards him in 
his distress.' 

Notwithstanding some absurdities of which he was guilty, 
many parts of Roger Williams' conduct merit spprobation. 
He established a perfect toleration in his own colony, and 
instead of showing any resentment against those by whom 
he had been banished, he was employed for forty years in 
continued acts of kindness towards them: giving them 
timely notice of the designs of the Indians, and of the 
movements of the Dutch, and their other enemies. 

The Pequods, a large and warlike tribe of Indians, who 
were settled along the banks of the river, now called the 
Thames, having from time to time committed acts of hostility, 
and plundered and murdered a number of the colonists, it 
was judged expedient to take some measures for punishing 
these aggressions, and to prevent them for the future. Ac- 
cordingly, Mr Endicott, with SO or 90 men, marched into 
the country of the Pequods ; but owing to the lateness of 
the season, he was obliged to return without effecting any- 
thing. 

Next to the Pequods, the Narragansets were the most 
3 



26 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

powerful of the New England Indians. They inhabitsd 
the country along the western shore of the Narraganset 
bay, and could muster 5000 fighting men. There had 
been, for ages, a fixed and deadly enmity between these 
two tribes. But the Pequods, dreading the power of the 
colonists, whom they justly regarded as the common enemy 
of all the Indians, were willing to make peace with the 
Narragansets, and desirous to obtain their assistance in 
carrying on the war. The colonists were extremely anx- 
ious to prevent this alliance. They sent a solemn embassy 
to the Narragansets; invited Miantinomoh, son of Ca- 
nonicus, who ruled the tribe conjointly with his father, 
to visit Boston ; and at length persuaded him to make 
a treaty with the colony, and to join them in the war 
against the Pequods. They also obtained the alliance of 
Uncas, sachem of the Moheagans, a tribe situated north of 
the Pequods, on the upper branches of the Thames, and 
extending westerly to the banks of the Connecticut. 

The Pequods were rather emboldened than terrified by 

Endicott's ineffectual expedition ; and early the 
1C37 next spring, they renewed their aggressions. It 

was now necessary to prosecute the war with 
vigor. Connecticut was nearest the scene of action, and 
her troops were first in the field. Ninety men, under 
captain John Mason, who had been bred a soldier in 
Europe, and sixty Moheagan Indians, under their sachem, 
Uncas, assembled at Hartford, and sailed down Connec- 
ticut river. They landed at fort Saybrook, and having 
taken on board a reinforcement of twenty men, sailed 
for Narraganset bay. Here they were joined by about 
400 Narraganset Indians, and commenced their march 
into the Pequod country. 

The Pequod w^arriors were principally collected in two 
large forts. One of these forts was on Mystic river, a small 
stream, which runs into the sea, about half way between 
Narraganset bay and the river Thames ; and it was thither 
that Mason directed his march. On the 26th of May, 
early in the morning, he arrived at the hill, on which the 
fort stood. He divided his men into two parties ; and they 
instantly rushed to the assault. The Indians, deceived by 
a report that their enemies had returned home, had been 
feasting and dancing all night, and were now in a deep 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 27 

sleep. They would have been completely surprised had 
not an alarm been given by the barking of a dog. This 
roused the warriors; but the colonists pressed on, and 
pouring a fire of musquetry through the palisades, they 
forced their way into the fort. A severe contest followed ; 
many of the Indians were slain ; some of the assailants 
were killed, and others wounded. The issue of the battle 
was still doubtful, when Mason, crying out, ' We must burn 
them,' caught up a firebrand, and thrust it among the mats 
with which the wigwams were covered. The fort was in- 
stantly in flames. The colonists and their Indian allies 
retiring out of it, formed a circle around, and struck down 
every Pequod who attempted to escape. The Indians 
fought desperately, but their bows and clubs were of little 
avail against the fire-arms of the colonists. Sixty wigwams 
were burnt, and between five and six hundred of the Pe- 
quods perished in the conflict. Two of the colonists were 
killed, and sixteen wounded. 

The victory was complete, yet the victorious forces were 
in distress. The men were greatly fatigued by a long march, 
want of sleep and the sharpness of the action. The morn- 
ing was hot ; water was diflicult to be obtained ; and a fresh 
body of Pequods was rapidly approaching. Mason attacked 
this new enemy, with a chosen band, and gave his men time 
to march on towards Pequod harbor, * where the vessels had 
been ordered to await their arrival. As the English retreat- 
ed, the Indians advanced to the hill, on which the fort had 
stood. At the sight of their ruined habitations and slaugh- 
tered countrymen, they burst out into a transport of rao-e ; 
stamped on the ground ; tore their hair, and regardless of 
danger, rushed down the hill in pursuit of the English. But 
Mason succeeded in making good his retreat. He embarked 
his troops at Pequod harbor, and landed at Hartford, where 
he was received with every expression of joy and gratitude. 

Sassacus, chief of the Pequods, assembled his remaining 
warriors. But upon consultation, they concluded, that after 
the severe losses they had met with, it would no longer be pos- 
sible to defend their country against the attacks of the white 
men. Accordingly, they destroyed their forts and wigwams, 
and dispersed in various directions. Sassacus, with a number 
of his principal warriors, fled towards the Hudson river. 

* Now New London. 



28 AN ABRIDGED HlSTORi 

The Massachusetts forces, under Captain Stoughton, ar- 
rived at Pequod harbor i n June. Here they were joined by 
a large body of the Narragansets, and having penetrated into 
the Pequod country, they discovered a party of the enemy 
concealed in a swamp. They surrounded the swamp, kill- 
ed the men to the number of thirty, and took eighty women 
and children, prisoners. 

The vessels sailed along the shore, and the troops, march- 
ing by land, pursued the flying Indians as far as Quinni- 
piack.* Here they were informed, that the main body of 
the Pequods was assembled in a swamp, at a considerable 
distance eastward. The colonists marched with all expe- 
dition, and having reached the swamp, f they sur- 
July 13 rounded it, and immediately commenced an at- 
tack. After the action had continued for some 
time, they offered life to all who would surrender. Upon 
this proposal, about two hundred of the Indians came out of 
the swamp, and surrendered themselves prisoners. But the 
warriors, to the number of one hundred, refused all terms, 
and renewed the action, which was kept up the greater part 
of the night. The next morning a thick fog favored their 
escape. About seventy broke through the English lines ; 
the rest fell in the action. Sassacus, with a few of his 
warriors, fled to the Mohawks, who were persuaded by the 
Narragansets to put him to death. The Pequod prisoners, 
were divided between the Narragansets and Moheagans ; 
their country was claimed and gradually settled by the Eng- 
lish. 

Such was the event of the first Indian war in which New 
England was engaged ; and thus perished the tribe of the 
Pequods. The war was just and necessary, and the colo- 
nists carried it on with commendable vigor. Yet who can 
help regretting the extermination of a brave and ancient 
people, who died in defending the country God had given 
them. 

While engaged in the war with the Pequods, the colony 
of Massachusetts bay suffered severely from internal com- 
motions. Some time previous, Mrs Hutchinson, a woman 
of considerable talent, though but little discretion, had be- 
gun to hold meetings in Boston, at which she instructed the 

* Now Np-w Haven. 

t Near where Fahfield now stands. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



29 



sisters of the churches in the most recondite doctrines of the- 
ology. This proceeding was approved and encouraged by 
Mr Wheelwright, brother-in-law to Mrs Hutchinson, a 
minister of good character for piety and learning ; by Mr 
Cotton, minister of Boston, and a leading man in the colony; 
and by Mr Vane, the governor, a young man of great abilities 
but wholly carried away with religious whimseys. Encour- 
aged by such respectable support, and prompted, perhaps, 
by a natural vanity, Mrs Hutchinson advanced opinions 
which involved the whole colony in disputes and conten- 
tions. She distinguished the ministers and members of 
churches, a few of them — her own particular friends and 
followers — as under a covenant of grace ; the rest, as under 
a covenant of works. This invidious distinction had its 
natural effect. The whole colony was soon divided into 
two parties, which regarded each other with the utmost sus- 
picion and dislike. The fear of God and the love of their 
neighbor, seemed to be overlooked as things of little conse- 
quence. The questions which distracted every mind were 
such as these: whether faith is a cause of justification; 
whether a man is justified before he believes ; whether any- 
thing of sanctifii'.ation can help to evidence to believers 
their justification ; and other inquiries of a like import. 

At the court of elections for 16;37, the parties had an 
opportunity of trying their strength. The friends of Mrs 
Hutchinson voted for Vane ; those opposed to her supported 
Winthrop. There was great danger of a violent tumult 
that day. The speeches on both sides were fierce, and the 
assembled voters more than once began to lay hands on 
each other. But in the end, the friends of Winthrop pre- 
vailed, and he was declared governor. 

Vane soon after left the country, and returned to Eng- 
land, where he took an active part in the civil wars, and 
made himself very conspicuous.* Notwithstanding the de- 
feat of her party, Mrs Hutchinson still continued her lec- 
tures ; till at last it was judged necessary to call a general 
assembly of the churches, for the purpose of taking her 
opinions into consideration. 

This synod, the fi.rst that met in America, assembled at 

*He is known in English history as Sir Henry Vane. At the resto- 
ration ke was tried and executed for high treason. 

3* 



30 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

Cambridge, and after a session of three weeks, condemned 
eightyhvo erroneous opinions, held and disseminated by Mrs 
Hutchinson and her followers. The synod did nothing but 
define the offence. They left it to the civil magistrate to 
judge and punish. Wheelwright was tried, found guilty of 
heresy, and banished. Mrs Hutchinson soon after shared 
the same fate. To prevent tumults, the court required sixty 
inhabitants of Boston, the most devoted of Mrs Hutchin- 
son's followers, to deliver up their arms ; and at the same 
time passed a law, punishing with fine and imprisonment, any 
who should defame the court, or its proceedings. 

Whatever judgment we may form of this celebrated con- 
troversy, or of the conduct of the several parties concerned 
in it, at all events, it tended to promote the settlement of 
JSiew England. 

A number of Mrs Hutchinson's followers, who found it 
impossible to live comfortably in Massachusetts, by 
1638 the advice and assistance of Roger Williams, pur- 

chased of the Indians the island of Aquctncck. 
These adventurers, fifteen in number, formed themselves 
into a body politic, and chose William Codrington to be 
their judge, or chief magistrate. A fertile soil and a 
pleasant climate attracted many settlers, and the island soon 
became populous. They called it the Isle of Rhodes, but 
use soon changed the name to that of Rhode Island. In 
1G44, the colonies of Rliode Island and Providence plan- 
tations, were united under a patent, u'hich Roger Williams 
obtained for them in England. 

V/heelwright collected a number of followers, and having 
obtained a grant of land from the Indians, founded the town 
of Excte?\ This town v.as within the limits of a grant 
made in 1629, by the Council of Plymouth to captain John 
Mason. In this grant, the territory received the name of 
New Hampshire. Two other towns within the limits of 
Mason's grant, — Portsinoutlt and Dover ^ both on the Pis- 
cataqua, — had been settled as early as 1623 ; but they had 
been principally used as fishing stations, and were still very 
inconsiderable. These three towns had for some time, each 
a distinct and independent government. But having fallen 
into great disorders, and finding themselves unable to main- 
tain the authority of the laws, in 1641, they petitioned Mas- 
sachusetts to receive them under her jurisdiction. Massa- 



OP THE UNITED STATES. 31 

chusetts claimed the territory of New Hampshire, as within 
the limits of her charter, and granted with pleasure the 
petitions of these towns. They were received as a part of 
the colony, and were soon after erected into a separate 
county, called the county of Norfolk. 

In the year 1637, Mr Davenport a celebrated minister, 
with several merchants and others from London, arrived at 
Boston. Like the other New England colonists, they left 
their homes in pursuit of civil and religious liberty. They 
^vere importuned to settle in Massachusetts, but preferred 
establishing a distinct colony of their own. Early the next 
spring, they sailed for QuimiipiacJ:. On the 19th of April, 
they kept their first Sabbath in that place, under a spreading 
oak . Having purchased of the I ndians Quinnipiack and the 
surrounding country, they laid the foundations of the town 
and colony of New Haven. Theophilus Eaton was their 
first governor. New Haven continued a separate colony 
till 1(565, when it was united with Connecticut under one 
and the same charter. 

In 1638, Harvard College was f)unded. The next year,, 
the first printing press in America was set up at Cambridge, 
the town where the college was established. The first 
thing printed, was the freeman's oath ; the next, an alma- 
nac; the third, a new version of the psalms. 

Charles I. had long governed England in the most arbi- 
trary manner ; but at length the necessity of his 
1640 affairs compelled him to call a parliament. The 
parliament, in which were many puritans, had no 
sooner assembled, than they eiitered on the redress of griev- 
ances, and in a year or two, assumed the whole power of 
the kingdom into their own hands. On this change of 
affairs, the emigration to New England ceased, and several 
of the most considerable colonists returned to their native 
country. It is supposed that the whole number who emi- 
grated from England did not much exceed 20,000. There 
had been already planted fifty towns and villages. Thirty 
or forty churches had been erected ; forts and trading 
houses had been established ; and ships had been built of from 
100 to 400 tons burden. The sudden stop now put to em- 
igration, was a severe blow to the colonies, and caused a 
great decline in the value of all sorts of property. How- 
ever, the colonists derived some benefit from the prevalence 



33 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

of their own principles at home. They were regarded with 
great favor by the Long Parliament, and afterwards by 
Crom^vell; and several ordinances were made for their ben- 
efit, particularly one, by which the trade between England 
and the colonies was freed from all duties and imposts 
whatever. 

The distance of New England from the parent country, 
and the beginning of civil dissensions there; the 
1643 hostile disposition of the Indians, and the neigh- 

borhood of French and Dutch settlements, indu- 
ced the colonies of Massacliusetls bay, Plymouth, Connec- 
ticut and New Haven, to form a confederacy for mutual 
advice, assistance and defence. They assumed the title 
of The United Colonies of New England, and estab- 
lished certain articles as tlie foundation and law of the 
alliance. Commissioners from these four colonies met, 
twice a year, alternately at Boston, Hartford, New Haven 
and Plymouth, to transact the business of the confedera- 
cy. This union lasted more than forty years, and was, in 
many respects, of great utility. Rhode Island was desi- 
rous of joining the alliance, but Massachusetts never 
would consent to it. 

In 1634, Sir Ferdinando Gorges had oi)tained a royal 
charter, confirming to him the province ofJVlArNE, of which 
he had received several previous grants from tiie council 
of Plymouth. There v/ere, at this time some I'eeble settle- 
ments along the coast, at Yoric, Wel/s^ Saco and some other 
places; and Gorges made great exertions to plant others; 
but his eflforts were for t)ie most, extremely un- 

1651 successful. At length, the colony seems to have 
been deserted by the proprietor ; tiie towns were 

in confusion, and the authority of the government at an 
end. Massachusetts claimed the ])rovince of Maine, as 
being within the bounds of her charter ; and taking advan- 
tao-e of the present confusion, encouraged the disposition 
wdiich prevailed among the principal inhabitants to submit 
to her jurisdiction. The towns of Maine were 

1652 soon persuaded to come into this arrangement, 
and were erected into a separate county by the 

name of Yorkshire. 

We have already had occasion to mention the principal 
tribes of Indians, that dwelt within the bounds of New 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 33 

England. They were the Pokanokets or Wampanoags, 
the Narragansets, the Pequods, and the Moheagans. The 
tribe of the Pequods was wholly destroyed in the Pequod 
war. Besides these larger tribes, there were a great num- 
ber of smaller ones, seated along the sea-shore, or inhabit- 
ing the banks of the rivers. The Indians along the Con- 
necticut were quite numerous, and were known among 
the colonists by the name of river Indians. There were 
also, several considerable tribes dwelling on the Mer- 
rimack, the Piscataqua, and their principal branches. The 
Ind ians of Maine, like those in every other part of the coun- 
try, were divided into a great number of tribes ; these tribes 
were named from the rivers, near which they dwelt, but 
were known to the colonists by the general name of Tar- 
renteens. 

The New England Indians were, perhaps, as little ad- 
vanced in civilization as any people to be found on the con- 
tinent. They were certainly very inferior to many of the 
tribes towards the west and south. Yet ignorant and de- 
graded as they were, great exertions were made to introduce 
civilization and Christianity among them. In 1()4(>, the gen^' 
eral court of Massachusetts passed an act to encourage the 
carrying the gospel among the Indians ; and in 1G50, a so^ 
ciety designed to promote the same object, was incorpo- 
rated by the English parliament. John Elliot, minister of 
Roxbury, engaged in the cause with so much zeal as to 
earn the title of the Indian Apostle. He translated the 
bible into the Indian tongue,* and spent many years in 
missionary labors. It was a maxim with hiai, that civiliza- 
tion and Christianity must go together. He exerted him- 
self to assemble the Indian converts into towns ; he in- 
structed them in husbandry and the necessary trades, and 
excited them to industry and a prudent management of 
their affairs. Mr Mayhew labored zealously in the same 
cause. Their success was not equal to their wishes. Yet 
it was by no means inconsiderable. The Narragansets and 
Wampanoags would not listen to their preaching, but they 
were well received among many of the smaller tribes, and 
made numerous converts. By the year 1660, there were in 
New England, ten towns of praying Indians, (for this was 

* This Indian translation was the first edition of the bible published 
in America, 



34 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

the name given to the converts,) and six regular Indian 
churches. 

Contemporary with the attempts to convert and civilize 
the Indians, was the persecution of the Quakers. This 
sect made its first appearance in England, in 1G52. It 
soon spread to America, and as early as 1654, a law was 
passed in Massachusetts, forbidding any one to have in his 
possession any Quaker books, and commanding all who had 
any such books, to send them in to the next magistrate. The 
Quakers, though now the most quiet and discreet of sects, 
were, at their first appearance, high fanatics ; and in the 
fervor of their zeal, were guilty of many violations of deco- 
rum, and some breaches of morality. It is to be feared, how- 
ever, that the persecuting laws passed against them, were 
aimed, rather at their heresy, than their indecorums ; for 
to punish these, the existing laws were already, amply suffi' 
cient. No person in the colony openly professed Quaker 
principles, till 1656 ; when two women of this persuasion, 
whose names, ' after the flesh,' * were Mary Fisher and 
Ann Austin, came from Barbadoesto Massachusetts. Nine 
others, men and women, arrived soon after, from London. 
They were carried before the magistrates, where they be- 
haved with great rudeness, and sentence of banishment 
was passed against them all. As yet, there were no special 
provisions for the punishment of Quakers, and this sentence 
was founded upon a law of the colony against heretics in 
general. But, at the next session of the general court, a 

law was passed, imposing a penalty of one hun- 
1652 dred pounds, on any master of a vessel, who 

should bring a known Quaker into the colony. 
The Quaker himself was to be sent to the house of correc- 
tion, whipped twenty stripes, and kept at hard labor until 
transported. The next year, by an additional law, all per- 
sons were subject to a penaity of forty shillings, for every 
hour's entertainment, given to a known Quaker, and any 
Quaker, after the first conviction, if a man, was to loose 
one of his ears, and after the second conviction, the other ; 
if a woman,'was to be, each time, severely whipped ; and both 
men and women, on the third conviction, were to have 
their tongues bored through, with a red hot iron. Not- 

* So they expressed themselves, when examined by the magistrates. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 35 

withstanding the severity of these provisions, the numbers 
of the sect continued to increase, and at length, a 
1658 law was passed for punishing with death, air^ua- 
kers, who should return into the jurisdiction, af- 
ter banishment. This law was very vigorously opposed, 
and was finally carried by a small majority. These laws 
continued in force for three years ; many Quakers were 
whipped, fined, imprisoned and banished ; and several, 
who having been banished, were bold and infatuated 
enough to return, suffered death. A letter from Charles II. 
written soon after his restoration to the throne, put an end 
to this severity. 

Persecution for religious opinions was not confined to 
New England. Severe laws were enacted in Virginia 
agamst Quakers and other dissenters, and these laws were 
rigidly enforced. Maryland and Rhode Island, where liber- 
ty of conscience was unrestrained, were filled with people, 
who had been driven from Virginia and the united colonies 
on account of their religious opinions. 

At the restoration of Charles II. to the English throne, 
more than fifty years had elapsed since the i)er- 
1660 manent establishment of English emigrants in 
America. But the progress of the colonies had 
been retarded by a thousand difficulties and dangers, and 
their increase had been very slow. They were iiow seven 
in number;* but the settlements in Maryland and Virginia 
were confined in a great measure to the neighborhood of 
the Chesapeake; and the towns of New England were dis- 
tributed along the sea coast, or scattered up and down Con- 
necticut river. But far the greater part, both of New England 
and the two southern provinces still remained a wilderliess, 
and the whole population of the English colonies did not 
exceed 80,000. 

* Virginia Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, Maryland, 
Ixhode Island and New Haven. 



36 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 



CHAPTER IV 



jRestnration of Charles II. — The Navigation Act. — Origin and History 
of the Province of the New Netherlands. — Swedish Settlements on 
the Delaware. — Conquest of the New Netherlands. — Province of 
New York ; Province of New Jersey. — Grant nnd Setilement of Car- 
olina. — Affairs of Virginia. — Bacon's Rebellion. 

The restoration of Charles II. to the English throne, 
was rejjcarded in the different colonies with very 
1660 different emotions. In Virginia and Maryland, 
where the party of the royalists Vv'as numerous, the 
intelligence was received with transptnt. In iMassachusetts, 
which had been fostered hy the favor of the ])arliament and of 
Cromwell, the peojjle saw much more to fear than to hope 
in the restoration cf monarchy. They seemed to have 
judged riglitly ; for Charles was scarcely seated on the 
throne, when the celebrated Navigation Act was passed. 
By this law it was provided, tiiat no j)roduco or merchandize 
should be imported into the colonies, orex]>orled fiom them, 
except in English vessels, navigated by English seamen; 
and it was Ibrbidden to export the principal productions of 
the colonies to any country except England. This was the 
beginning of a system, which was afterwards carried to a 
greater extent, and which ended in j)roditcing the American 
revolution. These commercial restrictions excited much 
discontent, and were submitted to with very great reluctance. 
Every art was used to evade them ; and it was a long time, 
especially in New England, before they were thoroughly 
enforced. 

Soon after the restoration, an increase took place in the 
number of the colonies. Hudson river, called by the In- 
dians, Manhattan, had been discovered in 1609, by Henry 
Hudson, an English navigator in the Dutch service. The 
next year, the Dutch sent ships to open a trade with the 
natives; and soon after built a trading house on the island 
of Manhattan, at the mouth of the river. A trading house 
was also established higher up the river, near where Albany 
now stands. In virtue of Hudson's discoveries, the Dutch 
claimed a large extent of territory on both sides the Man- 



OP THE UNITED STATES. 37 

hattan, to which they gave the name of New Netherlands. 
But they were regarded by the English as intruders, and in 
1613, Captain Argal from Virginia, with a fleet of three 
vessels, visited the Dutch settlements on the Hudson, and 
compelled Hendrick Christiaens, the governor, to submit 
himself and his colony to the king of England, and under 
him, to the governor of Virginia. The next year, a new 
governor arrived from Holland, with supplies and reinforce- 
ments. He refused to submit to the authority of the Eng- 
lish ; put himself in a posture of defence ; and built a fort 
at Manhattan, and another, called fort Orange, at the settle- 
ment up the river. Two little towns grew up very gradually 
about these two forts ; that at Manhattan received the 
name of New Amsterdam. But these establishments re- 
mained for several years mere places of trade, scarcely de- 
serving the name of a colony. Messengers were sent in 
1627, from the Dutch settlements on the Hudson, to the col- 
ony at Plymouth, bearing letters of friendship and congratu- 
lation ; and a trade was opened between the two colonies. 
In 1629, governor Van Twiller arrived from Holland, with 
a large number of people ; land was granted to the set- 
tlers ; and the permanent establishment of the Dutch colony 
may be considered as dating from that year. 

It has been already mentioned that the Dutch claimed the 
country bordering on Connecticut river. This claim, as 
well as their pretensions to the possession of Long Island, 
involved them in many disputes with the colonies of Connec- 
ticut and New Haven. They had wars, too, with the In- 
dians; and in 1646, fought a great battle at Strickland plain, 
near the western border of Connecticut, in which they de- 
feated the natives with great slaughter. In 1650, arbitrators 
appointed by the commissioners of the United Colonies on 
the one part, and the governor of the New Netherlands on 
the other, settled the boundaries of the Dutch and English 
provinces. But a few years after, new disputes broke out, 
and the commissioners of the United Colonies ordered forces 
to be raised in expectation of a war with the Dutch. Nothing 
but the unwillingness of Massachusetts to act in a business in 
which she was not imm.ediately concerned, prevented hos- 
tilities. 

In 1626, a Company for making settlements in Ame- 
rica, had been formed in Sweden, under the patronage of 
4 



38 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

the famous Gustavus Adolphus. The next year, a com- 
pany of Swedish colonists arrived in Delaware bay. They 
purchased, of the Indians, the country from Cape Hen- 
lopen to the falls of the Delaware, and in 1631, built fort 
Christiana on the west side of that river. They laid out a 
small town about this fort, and made their first settlements 
there.* They called the river New Swedeland Stream, and 
the country New Swedeland. A few other forts were af- 
terwards erected^ and small Swedish settlements established 
in their vicinity. But the Dutch claimed all this territory 
as falling within the bounds of their province of New Neth- 
erlands; and in 1655, Stuyvesant, the Dutch governor, at- 
tacked the Swedish settlements on the Delaware, with 
an armament of seven ships and 600 men ; and made a 
conquest of all their towns and forts. The principal 
inhabitants were carried prisoners to Holland ; the others 
submitted to the Dutch government, and received per- 
mission to remain in the country. After this conquest, the 
Dutch occupied the Swedish towns, and made a few more 
settlements along the Delaware. 

The English government had never allowed the claims of 
the Dutch to the province of Nev/ Netherlands ; 

1664 and in 1664, Charles II. granted all that territory 
to his brother the Duke of York. Captain Nichols, 

with four frigates and 800 soldiers, was sent to take posses- 
sion of the country. Governor Stuyvesant was taken wholly 
by surprise ; and though he would willingly have made re- 
sistance, was obliged to surrender all the forts and settlements 
into the hands of the English, The name of New Nether- 
lands was changed to New York, in honor of the Duke. 
The town of New Amsterdam received the same name; 
Manhattan island was called York island ; and fort Orange 
named Albany, t It was provided by the articles of 
capitulation, that the Dutch colonists might remain in 
the country, and should be protected in their persons and 
property. 

Nichols assumed the government of the province. He 
erected a court, consisting of himself, his council, 

1665 and the justices of the peace, in which was vested 

* Not far from the present situation of Wilmina;ton. 
t Albany was one of the titles of the Duke of York. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 39 

every power, executive, legislative and judicial. This 
court collected into a code the ancient customs of the 
colony, and framed a body of laws for the government of the 
province. The town of New York was incorporated as a 
city, to be governed by a mayor, five aldermen, and a sheriff. 
It was yet but small and mean ; the inhabitants were poor, 
and the general appearance of the place far from prom- 
ising. Some of the houses, however, were of brick and 
stone, handsomely built, and covered with black and red 
tiles. The land rose with a gradual ascent from the water's 
edge, and the town presented an agreeable view from the 
sea. Yet who that beheld it,, could possibly have foreseen, 
in its then insignificant appearance, the future splen- 
dors of the great commercial metropolis of the western 
world } 

Soon after the Duke of York had obtained his grant, he 
conveyed a part of the territory included in it, to Lord Berke- 
ley and Sir George Carteret. The country conveyed to 
these gentlemen, received the nameof New Jersey, in com- 
pliment to Carteret, whose family originated from the island 
of that name. Philip Carteret, who was appointed governor, 
arrived in 1665, and took possession of the new province. 
Some settlements within its limits had already been made 
by the Dutch ; and Carteret sent agents into New England, 
and elsewliere, to invite emigration. Elizabethfoivn, New- 
ark, MiddJetoicn and Slireioshury were soon settled, prin- 
cipally by emigrants from Long Island. Many people arrived 
from Scotland, and some from England ; and the population 
would have increased rapidly, had it not been for the fre- 
quency with which the province changed owners, and the 
disputes among themselves, in which the proprietors were, 
from time to time, involved. 

The next province established was Carolina, In 1663 
Charles II. had granted to Lord Clarendon and others, a 
tract of country by that name. Two years later, this grant 
was confirmed, and the limits of the province much extended. 
A small plantation on the northern bank of the Chowan, had 
been begun several years before, by emigrants from Virginia. 
As it fell within the limits of their grant, it was claimed by 
the proprietors of Carolina, who named it Albermarle, and 
established a government over it. A similar plantation had 
been begun in 1660^ near Cape Fear, by colonists from Mas- 



40 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

sachusetts. In 1665, this settlement was extended by the 
arrival of a number of planters from Barbadoes ; it was then 
made a county by the name of Clarendon; and John Yea- 
mans was appointed its governor. 

Five years after, the proprietors of Carolina sent a number 
of colonists from England, under the command of 
1670 William Sayle. They landed at Port Royals 
and began a settlement there ; but a number of 
them soon removed to a neck of land between the rivers 
Ashley and Cooper, and laid the foundations of Old Charles' 
ton, which was for several years the capital of the colony. 
The present city of Charleston, which stands three or four 
miles nearer the sea, was not founded till 1680. 

The early planters suffered extremely from the unheal- 
thiness of the climate, and the hostility of the Indians; 
and the progress of the colony was for some time very 
slow. The proprietors of Carolina had obtained from 
the celebrated Mr Locke, a frame of government for their 
province. But it was so complicated in its provisions, and 
so oppressive in its operation, as to be extremely disagree- 
able to the inhabitants ; and after several ineffectual attempts 
to enforce it, was finally abandoned. Carolina remained for 
many years a single province, but the northern and southern 
settlements seem always to have had distinct govern- 
ments. 

In 1673, during the war between England and Holland, 
the Dutch repossessed themselves of New York 
1673 and New Jersey; but at the peace, which took 
place the next year, they were restored to the 
English. English colonists gradually flowed into these 
provinces, and soon outnumbered the Dutch and Swedes by 
whom they had been originally peopled. 

The good humor which prevailed in Virginia at the re- 
storation of Charles II., was not of long duration. The 
operation of the navigation act was severely felt ; and a 
war, which had broken out with the Indians, produced many 
burdens and inconveniences. These discontents increased 
to such a degree, that in 1676, a part of the province burst 
out into open rebellion. 

The insurgents were headed by Nathaniel Bacon, a bold 

and ambitious young man, who possessed an en- 

1676 gaging person, and a commanding elocution well 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



41 



fitted to rouse the passions of the multitude. The 
Virginians suffered much from the Indian war, and the lan- 
guor with which this war was prosecuted, was a favorite topic 
of complaint among the discontented. Bacon applied to 
Sir William Berkeley, the governor, to appoint him general 
against the Indians, and when Berkeley hesitated to comply, 
he entered Jamestow^n at the head of GOO armed followers, 
and by force and threats compelled the governor to yield 
to his demands. He had scarcely left the town, when 
Berkeley, at the request of the assembly, issued a proclama- 
tion, declaring Bacon a rebel, and commanding his followers 
to deliver him up, and then to retire in peace to their 
houses. 

Bacon and his forces, enraged at these proceedings, which 
they called treachery, instantly returned to Jamestown, and 
the governor, who was totally unable to oppose them, 
fled to Accomack, the peninsula which forms the eastern 
shore, of Chesapeake bay. The regular government was 
now at an end, and Bacon, having assembled the most 
considerable men of the province, prevailed on them to take 
an oath to support his authority. Berkeley, meanwhile, 
collected forces, and made inroads into those parts of the 
country which acknowledged the authority of Bacon. 
Several sharp conflicts happened, with various success. 
Jamestown was reduced to ashes, and the best cultivated 
districts in the province were laid waste, sometimes by one 
party, and sometimes by the other. This state of things 
had lasted seven months, when Bacon suddenly sickened 
and died. None of his followers were able to exercise his 
influence, and all began to wish for an accommodation. 
Berkeley promised a general pardon, and the insurgents laid 
down their arms, and submitted to his government. Soon 
after, Berkeley was recalled, and colonel Jeffreys was ap- 
pointed his successor. 

For the next ten or twelve years, the government of Vir- 
ginia was exercised in a very arbitrary manner. The peo- 
ple murmured in secret, but were obliged to submit. The 
commercial restrictions operated very unfavorably upon the 
province, and the low price of tobacco, which was almost the 
only product of Virginia, was a great discouragement to 
the planters. But notwithstanding these obstructions, the 
4* 



42 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

population and wealth of the province gradually increased, 
and before the end of the century Virginia could number 
over 60,000 people. 



CHAPTER V 



Affairs of New England. — Philip's War. — New Hampshire made a 
Distinct Province. — Grant and Settlement of Pennsylvania. — The 
three Counties on the Delaware. — Massachusetts Charter declared 
void. — Sir Edmund Andros governor of New England. — Affairs of 
New York. — LeisJer's Rebellion. — New Charter of Massachusetts. — 
Witchcraft. 

It is now time to return to the affairs of New England. 

In 1664, Nichols, Cartwright and others, the 
1664 same persons to whom the conquest of the New 

Netherlands had been entrusted, were appointed by 
Charles II. commissioners for visiting the New England 
colonies. They were authorized to hear and determine all 
matters of complaint, and to settle the peace and security 
of the country. The appointment of these commissioners, 
was the cause of much disquietude, and their conduct did 
not tend at all to allay it. But their insolence was well 
met, by the firmness and prudence of the general court of 
Massachusetts, and although they occasioned a good deal 
of perplexity and expense, no permanent evil resulted from 
their appointment. 

Nothing of much importance occurs in the history of New 

JEngland from the appointment of these com- 
1675 missioners, ' till the breaking out of Philip's 

war. Metacom, sachem of the Wampanoags, 
better known among the colonists, as King Philip of 
Mount Hope, was a bold, artful, aspiring chief. He had 
long observed and lamented the extension of the English 
settlements ; he saw the Indians gradually wasting away ; 
and perceived that nothing could save them, except a gene- 
ral confederacy for the complete annihilation of the colo- 
nists. He was several years in maturing his plans, during 
all which interval, the Indians were uneasy, and from time 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 43 

to time, gave indications of hostility. The colonists perceiv- 
ed the coming storm, and endeavored by treaties and other 
peaceful measures, to avert it ; but it finally burst upon 
them with sudden and unexpected fury. 

Philip began by attacking Swansey, a frontier town of 
Plymouth colony, and killing a number of the in- 
June20 habitants. The alarm was immediately given, 
and in a few days, a considerable body of troops 
was collected. Major Savage took the command, and after 
one or two slight skirmishes, he marched into the country 
of the Wampanoags. But he found the wigwams empty 
and deserted. The Narragansets favored Philip, and it 
was to their care, that the Wampanoag warriors had en- 
trusted their women and children. It was therefore resolv- 
ed to march directly into the Narraganset country, and to 
bring that tribe to terms. Commissioners were sent at the 
same time from Massachusetts and Connecticut ; 
July 15 and a treaty of perpetual peace was concluded. 
But as the Narragansets were driven into the 
treaty by the presence of an armed force, they secretly re- 
solved to observe it no longer than the neighborhood of the 
troops compelled them to do so. 

The forces having returned to Taunton, received infor- 
mation, that Philip and his warriors were con- 
July 23 cealed in a swamp at Pocasset, * about eighteen 
miles distant. They marched immediately, and 
having reached the place, found about a hundred wig- 
wams, lately built, but empty and deserted. The Indians 
had left their camp, and retired deep into the swamp. 
The colonists followed ; but the ground was so soft, and 
the thicket so difficult to penetrate, that the companies were 
soon thrown into disorder. Each man fired at every bush 
he saw shake, thinking an Indian might lay concealed be- 
hind it ; and the assailants were in danger of wounding 
each other. Night came on, and it was judged most pru- 
dent to retreat. In this unsuccessful attack the colonists 
lost sixteen men ; how many of the Indians perished is un- 
certain. 

Philip passed into the country of the Nipmucks, a con- 
siderable tribe, who inhabited what is now the southern 

* Now Tiverton. 



44 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

part of the county of Worcester, and in a short time per- 
suaded all the neighboring tribes to take part in the war. 
As the Indians lived among the colonists, promiscuously in 
all parts of the country, they could watch their motions, 
and attack them at every favorable point and unguarded 
moment. Except the thickest settlements, and the cen- 
tres of the towns, the country still remained an unbroken 
forest, enabling the Indians to make their approaches un- 
discovered, and when they were discovered, favoring their 
escape. 

Besides doing other mischief, the Nipmucks waylaid 
Captain Hutchinson, as he was marching to Brookfield, 
and killed sixteen of his men. They afterwards attacked 
the town of Brookfield, and destroyed it, except 
Aug. 2 a single house. The Indians on the Connecti- 
cut river, began now to take part in the war. 
Hadley, Deerfield and Northfield were attacked, and num- 
bers of the inhabitants killed and wounded. Captain Bears 
was surprised, near Northfield, and slain, with twenty of 
his men. Unable to keep the enemy at bay, by sending 
parties against them, the commanders on the river resolved 
to establish a magazine and garrison at Hadley. There 
were three thousand bushels of corn at Deerfield, and Cap- 
tain Lathrop with eighty men, was sent to guard the wagons 
employed to remove it to Hadley. He was attacked by seve- 
ral hundred Indians, and after a brave resistance 
Sept. 16 was slain, with all his company. Captain Moseley 
marched from Deerfield to his assistance, but ar- 
rived too late to giue any effectual aid. Moseley fought 
the Indians two hours, and being reinforced by Major 
Treat, and a body of Moheagans, the only tribe that remain- 
ed faithful to the colonists during this war, he succeeded in 
putting the enemy to flight. Springfield and Hadley were 
soon after attacked. The Indians rushed to the assault 
with great fury ; but the garrisons made a brave defence, 
and after suffering considerable loss, repulsed the 
Oct. enemy. The Indians at Penicook, and other pla- 

ces on the Merrimack, began now to attack the 
towns in their neighborhood, and the whole of Massachu- 
setts was in the utmost alarm. 

About the time that Philip made his first attack, the settle- 
ments in Maine were assaulted by the Tarrenteens, or East- 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 45 

ern Indians. They plundered and burned the houses, laid 
waste the towns, and murdered the inhabitants. Elated 
with success, they advanced into New Hampshire, and at- 
tacked the settlements in the neighborhood of the Piscata- 
qua, spreading terror and destruction wherever they came. 

At a meeting of the commissioners of the United Colonies, 
the deputies from Plymouth presented a narrative, giving an 
account of the origin and progress of the Indian hostilities. 
The commissioners resolved, that the war was just and 
necessary, and that it ought to be prosecuted at the common 
expense. They accordingly ordered a thousand men to be 
immediately raised for this service. 

Although the Narragansets had not yet openly joined in 
the war, they had, on many occasions, favored and assisted 
the hostile Indians. They could muster 2000 warriors, and 
if they should take part with Philip, the destruction of the 
colony seemed inevitable. Taking these facts into consid- 
eration, the commissioners of the United Colonies resolved 
to raise an additional thousand men to march into the Nar- 
raganset country, and attack that tribe before they could 
form any further concert with Philip. 

The command of these forces was given to Mr Wins- 
low, governor of Plymouth. The troops mustered at Pe- 
taquamscot ; and though the ground was covered with a 
deep snow, at break of day, on the 19th of December, they 
began their march into the country of the Narragansets. 
The enemy were fifteen miles distant, strongly fortified 
in a thick swamp.* As the colonists approached, the 
advanced parties of the Indians fired a few shots, and im= 
mediately fled. The colonists pursued, and entering the 
thicket, followed the Indians to their fortress. It stood 
on an island, or rising ground, in the midst of the swamp, . 
and was built of palisades, driven firmly into the earth, 
and surrounded by a hedge, nearly a rod thick. It 
had but one entrance, which was quite narrow, and defended 
by a block- house in front, a flanker on the left side, and by 
a large tree thrown across the passage way. The only 
place where an entrance could be forced into the fort, was 
through this passage. The captains advanced boldly towards 
it, at the head of their companies. The Indians kept up a 
well directed fire, and many of the assailants fell ; but the troops 

* In what is now the town of South Kingston in Rhode Island. 



46 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

pressed on, and with desperate efforts forced the passage. The 
Indians fought bravely, but after a contest of two or three 
hours, they were defeated, and driven out of the fort. The 
soldiers then set fire to the wigwams, which were near 600 
in number. The corn and other stores of the Indians were 
consumed, and many of their old men, women and children 
perished in the flames. Of the colonists, 230 men were 
killed or wounded ; the Narragansets were supposed to 
have lost near a thousand of their tribe. The surviving 
warriors soon after retreated into the Nipmuck country. 
Notwithstanding the signal vengeance inflicted on the 

Narragansets, the Indians still continued their 
1676 ravages, and during the winter, burned and de^ 

stroyed many towns. Lancaster, Medfield, Grotont, 
Warwick, Marlborough, Rehoboth, Wrentham, and many 
others, suffered in this way. Captain Wadsworth, who was 

sent from Boston with a party of fifty men to re- 
Feb. 10 lieve Marlborough and other towns in that vicinity, 

fell into an ambush, and all his party were slain, 
or taken prisoners. 

The success of the Indians, and the distress of the 
colonists, were now at their height. Aff"airs soon after 
took a different turn. The people on Connecticut river, 

surprised a large party of the enemy assembled 
May 19 in their neighborhood, and killed 300 of them. 

Captain Dennison, of Connecticut, with a body 
of troops, composed partly of colonial soldiers and partly 
of Moheagan Indians, made several successful incur- 
sions into the Narraganset country. During one of these 
expeditions, he took prisoner Nanunttenoo, chief sachem of 
the Narragansets, who had ventured into his own country 
to procure seed corn to plant the towns on the Connecticut, 
which the colonists had deserted. He was the son of Mian- 
tinomoh, and inherited all the pride and spirit of his father. 
His life was offered him on the condition of making peace 
with the English. But he refused to accept it on such terms; 
and when told that he was to be put to death, he replied, * I 
like it well; I shall die before my heart is soft, or I shall have 
spoken anything unworthy of myself He was delivered up 
to the Moheagans, and Uncas, their sachem, cut off" his head. 
Major Talcot, at the head of another party from 
Connecticut, made several very successful expeditions, and 
killed and took over 400 of the enemy. By this time, the 



OP THE UNITED STATES. 47 

Indians were tired of the war. Pursued and hunted frdln 
one place to another, straitened for provisions, and weakened 
by hunger and disease, they began to come in, and submit 
themselves to the English. Philip collected a strong band 
of warriors, and returned to his old haunts above Mount 
Hope.* But the Massachusetts troops, under captain 
Church, followed him close, and on the 2d of August, sur- 
prised him in his camp, killed 130 of his men, and 
Aug. 12 took his wife and child prisoners. Ten days after, 
Church made another attack, in which Philip him- 
self fell. One of his own men whom he had offended, and 
who had deserted to the colonists, shot him through the 
heart. This was a finishing stroke. The rest of the In- 
dians fled or submitted, and by the end of the year, the war 
was over. It was not, however, till the spring of 1678, that 
peace was concluded with the Eastern Indians. 

New England long felt the effects of this short but destruc- 
tive war. Twelve or thirteen towns were entirely ruined, 
and many others partly destroyed. A large number of 
people had lost their houses, goods, corn and cattle. The 
bravest of their youth had fallen ; and the colonists had 
contracted a large debt, which bore heavily on their di- 
minished resources. 

In addition to her other misfortunes, Massachusetts was, 
about this time, a good deal disquieted by the intrigues of 
a certain Edmund Randolph, who exhibited complaints 
in England against the United Colonies for their non- 
compliance with the navigation act. Much trouble was 
also experienced from the heirs of Mason and Gorges, 
who claimed the provinces of New Ham.pshire and Maine, 
under the grants made to their ancestors, t In 1677, 
the colony of Massachusetts purchased of the heirs of 
Gorges, for ■£1250 all their claims to the province of 
Maine, and so settled that part of the controversy. 
1680 But three years after, through the solicitation of 
Mason's heirs, New Hampshire was separated 
from Massachusetts, and erected into a distinct province. 
It contained, at this time, four townships, and about 4000 
people. 

* Near Bristol, in Rhode Island. 
1 See p. .34, .36. 



48 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

The next considerable event in the history of the colonies, 
is the settlement of Pennsylvania. William 
1682 Penn, the celebrated Quaker, had, for several 
years, held an interest in the province of New- 
Jersey, and had by that means acquired a knowledge of the 
country west of the Delaware. In 1681, in consideration 
of the services of his father, Admiral Penn, he obtained 
from Charles II. the grant of a large tract west of that river; 
and he soon after purchased of the Duke of York the ter- 
ritory which now composes the state of Delaware. He 
immediately set about collecting emigrants, and in 1682, 
arrived on the banks of the Delaware river, with a colony, 
composed principally of duakers. On his arrival, he found 
in the neighborhood nearly 3000 inhabitants, consisting of 
Swedes, Dutch and English. He called these people to- 
gether; made them acquainted with the objectof his coming; 
promised them liberty of conscience, and civil freedom ; and 
recommended to them to live in sobriety and peace. He then 
proceeded to Upland, now CJiester, where he called an as- 
sembly, which passed laws annexing the counties on the 
Delaware to Pennsylvania, and naturalizing the Dutch, 
Swedes, and other foreign settlers. He entered into a 
treaty of peace with the neighboring Indians, which was 
faithfully observed on both sides for many years; and having 
purchased of them such tracts of land as he judged neces- 
sary, he proceeded to lay out a city to which he gave the 
name of Philadclpliia.* Buildings were immediately com- 
menced, and within less than a year, eighty houses and 
cottages were completed, A variety of circumstances com- 
bined to give the new colony a rapid increase. The soil 
was fertile, the climate agreeable, and the situation central ; 
while the charter and fundamental laws secured the inhabi- 
tants in the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty. Colo- 
nists flowed in from all quarters, sometimes five or six 
thousand a year ; and the population rapidly increased. 

The three lower counties on the Delaware, or the Terri- 
tories, as they were sometimes called, remained united with 
Pennsylvania, till 1703, when they were erected into a 
separate jurisdiction. But they continued under the same 
proprietor and governor with Pennsylvania, till the begin- 
ning of the American revolution. 

* A Greek word, which signifies brotherly love. This name was 
chosen in allusion to the principles of the Quakers. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 49 

The colonies, equally with the other parts of their do- 
minions, felt the tyrannical principles of government pro- 
fessed and practised, by Charles TI. and his brother and 
successor, James II. The free constitutions of New Eng- 
land were particularly offensive to these unprincipled 
monarchs ; and proceedings were instituted in the English 
courts, for depriving the colonies of the charters, by which 
their several forms of government were authorized and 
guarantied. The English judges held their offices at the 
pleasure of the crown, and their judgments were very apt to 
conform to the wishes of the king. Connecticut and Rhode 
Island submitted; and surrendering their charters with- 
out a trial, threw themselves on the royal clemency. Mas- 
sachusetts, more determined, stood out till the 
1684 last moment, and her charter was, at length 
adjudged void, by a decree of the high court of 
Chancery. 

Having lost their charters, the New England colonies 
lost with them, the right of electing their own 
1686 governors. Sir Edmund Andros was appointed 
by king James, governor of New England and 
New York, and arrived at Boston, about the end of the 
year 1686. He exercised his authority in a very arbitrary 
manner ; levied taxes at his will and pleasure ; and pretend- 
ing that since the charters were avoided, all grants of land, 
made under them, were void also, — he compelled the owners 
to take out new patents for their land, for which 

1688 he exacted exorbitant fees. By these and various 
other oppressions he gained, in a short time, the 

hatred of the whole country. The inhabitants submitted, 
though sullen and dissatisfied, till news arrived that the 
people of England, wearied out with the tyranny of James, 
had invited the prince of Orange to come over from Holland 
and assume the government. The fire which had been 
long smothered now broke out. The inhabitants of 
Boston rose in arms, and gained possession of the 

1689 castle, the other fortifications, and the Rose 
frigate which lay in the harbor. They seized 

Andros and his principal abettors, and compelled the ven- 
erable governor Bradstreet, and others who had been mag- 
istrates under the old charter, to resume their authority. 
Connecticut and Rhode Island followed the example of 
5 



50 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

Massachusetts ; and as their charters had never been ad- 
judged void, they resumed them, and with them their 
ancient form of government. 

During the first twenty years after the conquest of New 
York, that province was governed in the most arbitrary 
style. But the people having petitioned the Duke to 
allow them some share in the government, particularly 
the liberty enjoyed in all the other provinces of choos- 
ing an assembly ; in 16S2 he appointed colonel Don- 
gen governor, who called, the next year, the first provincial 
assembly of New York. This assembly consisted of a 
council often persons, appointed by the duke, and a house 
of representatives, eighteen in number, chosen by the peo- 
ple. They held two sessions, and passed some important 
laws ; but the duke did not continue the privilege, and a 
general discontent and uneasiness was the consequence. 

The news no sooner arrived at New York, that the 
people of Boston had deposed Andros, than a large party, 
at the head of whom were Jacob Leisler and Jacob Milborn, 
resolved to imitate their example. They seized Nicholson, 
the lieutenant governor ; gained possession of tlie fortifica- 
tions ; and Leisler, with a number of others, denominated a 
committee of safety, assumed all the powers of government. 

Meanwhile the prince of Orange became king of Eng- 
land, unde; the title of William III. ; and in the 
1691 spring of 1691, colonel Slaughter, whom he had 
appointed governor, arrived at New York. Leisler 
knew of his appointment ; but intoxicated with the love of 
power, or influenced by some inexplicable motive, he refu- 
sed obedience to Slaughter, and openly resisted his authori- 
ty. The people of the province viewed the subject in an- 
other light. They submitted to Slaughter's authority, and 
Leisler and Milborn were taken prisoners, tried for high 
treason, and executed. Slaughter soon after called an as- 
sembly, which continued to meet regularly every year ; and 
the government, from this time forward, was conducted on 
more liberal principles. 

The first charter of Massachusetts having been declared 
Toid, it was necessary to apply for another. King William 
granted a new charter, but it was far from being so broad 
and ample in its provisions as the old one. Among other 
things, the king retained the right of appointing a governor 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 51 

for the province ; and no act of the general court could 
become a law, till it had been approved by the 
1692 king and his ministers. Sir William Phipps was 
appointed the first royal governor. He arrived in 
the spring of 1692, bringing the new charter with him. 
By this charter the colony of Plymouth and the province 
of Maine were united to Massachusetts, and became parts 
of it. 

When governor Phipps arrived, he found the country 
suffering under a severe and singular calamity. This was 
the era of the Salem ivitchcraft, — a scene of most ex- 
traordinary fraud and imposture, commenced by four young 
girls, who perhaps, aimed at nothing except to attract 
public attention and pity by pretended suffering ; — sus- 
tained by the superstition of the times, and at length produ- 
cing a universal panic. This excitement began at Salem, 
and was confined principally to the county of Essex. Cer- 
tain persons, the bewitched, or 'afflicted,' as they were call- 
ed, suffered, or pretended to suffer, from the contrivances 
and cruelty of the witches. They were pinched, pulled, 
bruised, pricked, cut, thrown into fits, and otherwise tor- 
mented by invisible agents. This was the operation of 
witchcraft ; the manner of discovering a witch was as 
follows. The afflicted accused certain persons as the 
authors of their sufferings ; these persons were sent for ; 
the afflicted were blindfolded, and tlie accused brought 
near them. If the sufferers showed no particular agitation, 
this was thought a presumption of ianooence. But it most 
generally happened, that the afflicted screamed, cried out 
and fell into fits. This was looked upon as conclusive 
proof of guilt; the accused were instantly committed to 
prison, and assured, that the confession of their crime was 
the only way to save their lives. Thus beset, many did 
confess, and told the most absurd and ridiculous stories, 
about the compacts they had made with evil spirits, the 
witches' meetings they had attended, their riding through 
the air on broomsticks, and other similar nonsense. These 
confessions were afterwards retracted ; but the delusion was 
too strong to be easily dissipated, and it was only a sense 
of personal danger that put an end to the popular phrensy. 
The first person accused was an old and friendless Indian 
woman ; but as the afflicted grew bolder, persons of every 



53 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

rank and situation were implicated. During six months no 
man's life was safe. Children informed against their pa- 
rents, and parents against their children. The only certain 
way to escape accusation was to turn accuser. To doubt 
the veracity of the afflicted, or to recommend caution and 
care, was almost certain destruction. The jails were filled 
with prisoners ; twenty persons suffered death, and many 
others were tried and found guilty. Everybody, at length, 
began to fear for their own safety, unless some speedy end 
could be put to these singular proceedings. This personal 
danger contributed to open the eyes, even of the most su- 
perstitious, and the delusion passed rapidly away; — but 
not without leaving a dark blot on the history of New Eng- 
land. 



CHAPTER VI 



Effect on the Colonies of the accession of King William. — French Set- 
tlements in Acadie and Canada. — The Five Nations. — Population of 
the Colonies at the beginning of the first French and Indian War. — De- 
struction of Schenectady. — Commissioners meet at New York. — Port 
Royal taken. — Distrjiction of York and Oyster River — Expedition 
against Quebec. — Po t Royal recoveied by the French. — Peace of 
Ryswick, 1697. — War Renewed. — Ueerfield destroyed. — Port Royal 
taken. — Unsuccessful Attempt on Quebec. — Peace of Utrecht, 1711. — 
Affairs of the Middle and Southern Colonies. — Wars with tiie Southern* 
Indians. — Carolina becomes a Royal Province. 

The revolution which placed William III. on the throne 
of England, saved the liberties of the colonies, 
1689 but involved them in a series of expensive and 

harassing wars. Louis XIV. was now king of 
France. He had, for several years, been aiming at univer- 
sal dominion, but had been constantly opposed in all his un- 
dertakings, by the Prince of Orange; and this prince had 
no sooner become king of England, than war was declared 
between the two countries. A war between France and 
England brought on, as a matter of course, a war between 
the French and English colonies. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



53 



The French had very early made discoveries in America, 
and attempted to plant colonies there. The voyages of 
Verrazzano and Cartier have been already mentioned, as 
well as the attempts of the French to colonize the coast of 
Florida.* Many other voyages had been made, and settle- 
ments from time to time attempted, both by public authority 
and private enterprise. But most of these undertakings had 
proved unsuccessful; and at the time of which we are now 
speaking, the French had but three colonies on the continent 
of North America, neither of which was very flourishing 
or populous. These colonies were Louisiana^ which took 
no part in the early French and Indian wars, and of which 
we will speak more at large hereafter ; Accidie^ since called 
Nova Scotia, and Canada. Port Royal,t the capital of Aca- 
die, had been founded by De Monts, as early as 1605; and 
three years later Champlain had commenced a settlement 
at Quebec, the capital of Canada. But notwithstanding 
their antiquity, the whole population of both colonies did 
not much exceed 20,000 souls. The French, however, had 
succeeded in acquiring a great influence over the Indians 
in their neighborhood. Assisted by this alliance, and pro- 
tected by the severity of the climate, and the impassable 
forests and morasses, by which they were surrounded, the 
Canadians, during four successive wars, and for a period of 
more than seventy years, were enabled to resist all the at- 
tempts, made by the English to conquer their country. 

As the Indians of the Five Nations, or the Iroquois, as 
they were called by the French, made a considerable figure 
in these wars, it will be proper to give some account of them 
here. These five allied tribes, were the Mohawks, the Sen- 
ecas, theOneidas,theOnondagos, andtheCayugas. In 1712, 
the Tuscaroras, a tribe from North Carolina, were added to 
the alliance, and the confederacy then took the name of the 
Six Nations. The country of the Iroquois was in the west- 
ern part of what is now the state of New York ; but they 
had extended their conquests far and wide, had conquered 
the Delawares and other tribes, inhabiting what is now the 
state of Pennsylvania, and had overrun all the western part 
of Maryland and Virginia. In courage, ferocity and 
warlike enterprise, as well as in their social institutions, 

* See Chapter First, 
t Now Annapolis. 
5* 



54 AN ABRIDGED HlSTORy 

and the arts of peace, they surpassed all their neighbors ; 
and in all these respects were far superior to the feeble and 
puny tribes of New England and Virginia. The Five 
Nations had long been engaged in wars with the French, 
and the Indians in their alliance; and, for a long series of 
years, they proved themselves laithful allies of the English. 

At the beginning of the first French and Indian war, the 
whole population of the English colonies did not much ex- 
ceed 200,000. Of this population, about half were seated 
in New England. 

Count Frontenac, the governor of Canada, though in 
his sixtyeighth year, possessed all the activity, 
1690 courage and enterprise of youth. His province 

had lately been desolated, and Montreal destroy- 
ed, by an invasion of the Five Nations ; but he no sooner 
heard of the rupture between France and England, than he 
despatched three war parties, by three difterent routes, to 
attack the English settlements. ^ One of these parties, con- 
sisting of one hundred and fifty French, and as many In- 
dians, after a march of twentytwo days, through a wilder- 
ness covered with deep snow, reached Schenectady, a vil- 
lage of New York, on the I\Iohawk river, inhabited prin- 
cipally by Dutch settlers. The gates were found unshut 
and unguarded, and the inhabitants all asleep. 
Feb. 8 Having entered the town, the assailants divided 
themselves into parties of six or seven, and at- 
tacked every house at the same time. The doors were 
broken open, the houses set on fire, and the men, women 
and children massacred, with all the rage of Indian barbar- 
ity. Sixty were killed, and twenty seven taken captive ; 
the rest of this unfortunate people fled, half naked, along 
the road to Albany, through a deep snow and terrible storm. 

The other two expeditions were equally successful. One 
of them attacked Salmon Falls in New Hampshire, the 
other, Casco, in Maine ; and their success was disgraced by 
cruelties, similar to that practised at Schenectady. 

These specimens of what might be expected from a 
French and Indian v/ar, filled the country with alarm ; and 
the general court of Massachusetts wrote to the governors 
of the neighboring colonies, desiring them to appoint com- 
missioners to meet and consult upo3i measures ])roper to be 
taken to insure the coniiuon safety. The commissioners 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 55 

met at New York, in the spring of 1690 ; and this 
appears to be the first instance of a Congress of the Col- 
onies. 

Two years before, the Eastern Indians had begun to make 
inroads on the settlements in Maine, and Andros, while he 
remained governor of New England, had made some in- 
effectual attempts to subdue them. They were now sup- 
plied with arms and ammunition, by the French of Acadie, 
and began to carry on the war with new vigor. As the 
most effectual way to reduce the Indians, was to cut off the 
source of their supplies, the general court of Massachusetts 
resolved to attack Port Royal, the capital of Acadie. A 
Heet of eight small vessels, and an army of between seven 
and eight hundred men, under the command of Sir William 
Phipps, were sent on this expedition. The fortifications of 
Port Royal were in no condition to stand a siege, and the 
town surrendered, after a very slight resistance. Phipps 
took possession of Acadie, as well as of the coast 
May between Port Royal and the English settlements, 

and all this extensive territory was included in 
the new charter of Massachusetts. 

Encouraged by their success against Acadie, the people 
of New England fitted out an armament of twelve hundred 
men, which sailed, under the command of Phipps, to attack 
Quebec. But finding the place much stronger than he had 
expected, Phipps was obliged to return without effecting any- 
thing. Success had been confidently expected ; the imme- 
diate return of the troops was quite unlooked for, and no 
sufficient provision had been made for paying them. 
There was danger of a mutiny ; and as the necessary 
funds could not be provided, the government of Massa- 
chusetts issued bills of credit, as a substitute for silver. 
This was the first paper money ever issued in America. 

A desultory v/ar continued to be carried on, which, 
though it did not furnish many striking events, caused a 
heavy expense, and much individual misery. The frontier 
settlements were attacked, one after another, and many of 
them were completely broken up. The Indians were sel- 
dom seen before they did execution They would lie in 
ambush for days, near the roads and villages, till they found 
some good opportunity for executing their purposes. Some- 
times they killed on the spot all who fell into their hands ; 



56 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

at others, they spared the lives of the prisoners ; but only 
to carry them into a captivity worse than death. 

In 1692, the town of York, in Maine, was surprised by 

a party of Indians. Seventyfive of the inhabitants 
1692 were killed, and as many nlore taken captive. 

Wells was soon after attacked, but the inhabitants 
made a stout resistance and drove off the assailants. Two 

years after, the Sieur de Villieu, a French partizan 
1694 officer, with two hundred and fifty Indians, fell 

upon the village of Oyster River, now Durham, in 
New Hampshire, and killed or took one hundred people. 
Out of twelve garrison houses, five were taken, but the 
other seven were boldly and successfully defended. 

The colonists regarded Canada as the true source of 
these hostilities, and earnestly solicited the English govern- 
ment, to send an expedition against that province. Seve- 
ral such expeditions were planned, but none carried into 

execution. Instead of extending their conquests, 

1696 the English lost what they had already taken. In 
169-3, Port Royal was recovered by. a body of 

French troops, under Villeborne, who had a commission as 
governor of Acadie. Several attempts were made to dislodge 
him ; but they were unsuccessful, and the whole province 
submitted to his authority. 

At length the peace of Ryswick terminated the war be- 
tween France and England, and hostilities with 

1697 the Canadians ceased immediately. The Indians 
kept up their depredations awhile longer ; but in 

the course of the next year general tranquillity was restored. 
Peace was no sooner established, than disputes arose 
between the French and English governments, respect- 
ing the boundaries of their American possessions ; and 
these, combined with other more important controversies, 
growing out of the politics of Europe, soon occasioned the 
recommencement of hostilities. 

The weight of this second war, so far as the colonies 

were concerned, fell exclusively on New England. 
1702 At this time, the influence of the French was not 

sufliciently extensive to engage the Indians, south 
of New York, into a war with their colonial neighbors ; and 
New York itself, was protected by a truce which had lately 
been made between the French and the Five Nations. 
Through fear of interrupting this truce, the governor of 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



57 



Canada avoided sending any war parties, in the direction 
of New York. But the frontiers of New England were 
swept by a predatory and desolating war, which, though 
attended by circumstances of no peculiar interest, brought 
with it much expense, and infinite individual distress. 
Tragedies, similar to those of the last war, were acted anew. 

On the night of the 28th of February, 1704, a body 
1704 of three hundred French and Indians, commanded 

by Hertel de Rouville, a famous partizan officer, 
made a sudden attack on the town of Deerfield, situated 
near the western frontier of Massachusetts. The sentinels 
werel asleep, and the assailants entered the town without 
opposition. The inhabitants slept, for greater safety, in a 
large garrison house; but the snow lay in such drifts, that the 
French found no difficulty in leaping over the palisades, by 
which the house was surrounded. They killed fortyseven 
of the inhabitants, took one hundred and twelve prisoners, 
and having set fire to the town, returned to Canada. In 
1708, the town of Haverhill, on Merrimack river, was at- 
tacked by a similar party, and underwent a similar fate. 

In 1707, Dudley, the governor of Massachusetts, pro- 
jected an expedition against Port Royal, with the united 
forces of the New England colonies ; but the attempt proved 

unsuccessful. Three years after the town was 

1710 taken by a fleet and army under colonel Nichol- 
son, and in compliment to queen Anne, its name 

was changed to Annapolis. The next year. General Hill 
sailed against Quebec with a fleet of sixtyeight 

1711 ships, and an army of 6500 men. As the vessels 
were advancing up the St Lawrence, during a dark 

and stormy night, several of the transports were wrecked, 
and 1000 of the soldiers perished. Disheartened by this 
loss, the fleet returned without making any further attempt. 
The depredations on the frontiers continued, but no other 
event of importance occurred, till the war was ended by the 
treaty of Utrecht. By the twelfth article of that treaty, 
Acadie, and its dependences were ceded to England. 

During these two wars, commonly known in New England 
as the wars of King William and Queen Anne, the people 
of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, enjoyed a pro- 
found peace, and advanced continually in wealth and 
population. The colony of Carolina was not so fortunate 



58 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

The people of that colony were involved in continual and 
vexatious disputes with the proprietors of the province, and 
from time to time, experienced the calamities of war. In 
the war of 1702, the Spaniards were the allies of the French. 
They had several forts and settlements in Florida, and Mr 
Moore, the governor of the southern settlements of Carolina, 
proposed an expedition against St Augustine. The colonists 
eagerly embraced the proposal ; but the expedition proved 
unsuccessful, and involved them in a heavy debt. They 
were more fortunate in a war against the Appalachian In- 
dians, a tribe that dwelt between the rivers Savannah and 
Alatamaha. Many of the Indians were killed and others 
taken prisoners ; their country was plundered, their towns 
burned, and the tribe was compelled to submit to the au- 
thority of the English. 

In 1706, the Spaniards, who claimed the whole of Caro- 
lina, as a part of their colony of Florida, made a descent 
upon the coast with an armament, consisting of five vessels 
and four hundred men ; but Sir Nathaniel Johnson, the 
governor, took effectual measures for the safety of the col- 
ony, and repelled the invaders, after killing and taking 
prisoners, three hundred of their number.* 

In 1712, the Corees, Tuscaroras, and other tribes of 
North Carolina, formed a conspiracy for the ex- 
1712 termination of the English settlers in that neighbor- 
hood. Having built a strong fort for the protec- 
tion of their women and children, the warriors divided them- 
selves into small parties, and entered the settlements, by 
different roads. They mingled with the unsuspecting in- 
habitants, and kept up the appearance of friendship, till the 
appointed night arrived, when they fell upon the whites, and 
murdered all on whom they could lay their hands, without 
distinction of age or sex. Such families as escaped assem- 
bled together, the men remaining constantly under arms, till 
succors could come from the southern settlements. At 
length, colonel Barnwell arrived with six hundred militia 
and four hundred friendly Indians. The confederated tribes 
stood a battle, but were defeated with the loss of three hun- 
dred killed and one hundred taken prisoners. After this 

* The cultivation of rice, had been introduced into Carolina, in 1695 j 
it had now become the great staple of the country, 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 59 

they retired to their fortified town, where Barnwell attacked 
them a second time, and compelled them to sue for peace. 
In this war the Tuscaroras are supposed to have lost a 
thousand men. Those of them who survived, abandoned 
their country, and united with the Five Nations. 

Two or three years after, the Yamasses, a powerful tribe, 
that dwelt along the northern banks of the Savan- 
1715 nah, formed a similar plot for the destruction of 
the southern settlements of Carolina. They were 
joined by the Creeks, the Congarees, the Cherokees and 
the Catawbas, and drove the planters on all sides, into the 
city of Charleston. Governor Craven took the most vigor- 
ous measures ; he proclaimed martial law, and laid an em- 
bargo on all ships, to prevent either men or provisions from 
leaving the city. Having mustered all the militia, and 
armed such of the slaves as could be trusted, he marched 
out of Charleston to meet the enemy. The Indians were 
assembled at a place called the Saitcatchcrs, and here a 
very obstinate engagement was fought. At last, the Eng- 
lish prevailed ; the Indians were broken, pursued into their 
own country, and driven over the river Savannah. 

The disputes between the proprietors of Carolina, and 
the inhabitants of the colony, increased from year to year, 
till at length, they reached such a height, that the planters 
refused any further obedience to the proprietary govern- 
ment. At the same time, they applied to the king and par- 
liament for redress ; and the proprietors, finding it useless 
to struggle any longer, with such unwilling sub- 
1720 jects, were persuaded to receive an equivalent in 
money, and to surrender to the crown, their right 
and interest in the colony. 

Francis Nicholson was appointed the first royal governor. 
The first act of his administration was, to establish a solid 
peace with the Creeks and Cherokees. He then turned 
his attention to internal aflfairs, — the encouragement of 
education, and the promotion of agriculture, — and was in- 
strumental in introducing many valuable improve- 
1729 ments into the colony. In 1729, the settlements 
were divided into the two provinces of North Car- 
olina and South Carolina. 



60 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 



CHAPTER VII 



Aifairs of New England. — Lovewell's War. — Controversy in Massachu- 
setts respecting the Governor's Salary. — Grant and settlement «»f 
Georgia. — War between England and Spain. — Oglethorpe lays siege 
to St Augustine. — Spaniards invade Georgia. — Third French and In- 
dian War. — Expedition against Louisburg. — The Colonies alarmed 
by a French Fleet. — Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748. 

New England had now enjoyed a considerable interval 
of peace and prosperity. But in 172*2, the provinces 
1722 of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, were in- 
volved in a new war with the Eastern Indians. 
The Indians complained that the colonists encroached upon 
their land. The colonists ascribed the hostile disposition 
of the Indians to the influence of Father Ralle, a French 
Jesuit, a man of learning, talents and address, who resided 
among them as a missionary. Difficulties had existed for 
several years, but the immediate cause of hostilities was, an 
attempt, on the part of the colonists, to seize Ralle, whore- 
sided at Norridgewock, on the river Kennebec. This pro- 
ceeding was not, perhaps, perfectly justifiable, and was 
much resented by the Indians, who immediately commenc- 
ed hostilities. A second attempt on Norridgewock was 
more successfid. Ralle's chapel was destroyed, and himself 
with about eighty Indians were killed. This war lasted 
nearly three years, and is commonly known as LovcioelVs 
war, because the most striking incidents in it, were those in 
which captain Lovewell was concerned. This noted par- 
tizan led two successful expeditions against the Indians ; 
but in a third attempt, he fell into an ambush and was slain, 
with a great part of his men. At length, the Indians grew 
weary of the war, and in 1725 consented to a peace. 

About this time the general court of Massachusetts 
was involved in a violent dispute with Mr Burnet, 
1725 their governor, on the subject of voting him a per- 
manent salary. According to the Charter, the 
general court had the power, and were required, to allow 
the governor, from year to year, such a salary as they 
might judge competent. But Burnet had been instructed 
by the king to insist on a law, granting some fixed, and 



OF THL^ UNITED STATES. 61 

permanent sum. The general court, unwilling to render 
the governor entirely independent, refused to pass any such 
law. The dispute was kept up with great vigor for two 
years. The governor threatened to complain of the prov- 
ince to the king ; and the king threatened to lay the undu- 
tiful conduct of the province, before parliament. But 
the people of Massachusetts knew their own rights; they 
insisted upon them, and the dispute, at last, terminated in 
their favor. 

In 1732, a plan was set on foot for planting a new colo- 
ny. General Oglethorpe and twenty others, were appointed 
trustees, and the design was to transport from the mother 
country, such persons from among the suffering poor as 
might be willing to seek an asylum, where the means of 
subsistence were to be obtained, more easily than at home. 
A small colony arrived the next year, and founded 
1733 the town o'l Savannah. The name given to the 
new province was Georgia, in honor of George 
II. the reigning king of England. Oglethorpe made a treaty 
with the Creeks, and obtained from them the grant of a large 
tract of country. He exerted himself in every way to pro- 
mote the prosperity of the colony, and not altogether with- 
out success. New settlers arrived from year to year ; but 
the progress of the colony was much hindered by certain 
unwise regulations, which the trustees had adopted respect- 
ing the tenure of land ; and the prohibition of slavery 
which at first prevailed, prevented many from settling in 
the new province. It was not till 1752, when the trustees 
surrendered their charter, and a government and laws were 
established similar to those of the Carolinas, that the colo- 
ny begun to flourish. 

In 1739, certain difficulties which had long existed be- 
tween England and Spain, concerning trade with the Spa- 
nish colonies, terminated in a war. The people of Georgia 
and South Carolina bore no good will to their Spanish 
neighbors in Florida. They ascribed two insurrections, 
which had lately happened among the slaves, to the effect 
of Spanish intrigue ; and they believed that the neighboring 
Indians had more than once, been instigated by the Spaniards, 
to make war on the English colonies. When 
1740 Oglethorpe proposed an expedition against St Au- 
gustine, both Georgia and Souy,^ Carolina readily 
6 



62 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

consented to take a part in it. Oglethorpe mustered an 
army of 2000 men, partly colonists and partly Indians. He 
marched into Florida, took one or two forts, and laid siege 
to St Augustine. But after meeting with many disasters, 
and losing some of his men in battle and more by sickness, 
he was obliged to raise the siege, and return home. 

Two years after, the Spaniards retaliated, and invaded 

Georgia; but the courage and address of Oglethorpe 
1742 baffled all their plans, and they were obliged to 

retreat without effecting anything. 
There was an intimate alliance between the crowns of 
France and Spain; and the war between Spain and England 
had not continued long before France took a part in it. 

The first intimation, which Massachusetts had of 

1744 this new war, was an expedition under the com- 
mand of Du Q,uesnel, which surprised the fort at 

CansOjOn the coast of Maine, and took the garrison prisoners. 

The next year, Mr Shirley, governor of Massachusetts, 

proposed a plan for attacking Louisburg, and after 

1745 some hesitation, the General Court agreed to it. 
This fortress was situated on the southeastern 

shoreof the island of Cape Breton, and had been built with 
great care, and at a great expense. In peace, it was a safe 
retreat for such French vessels as happened to be driven 
on the coast; in war, it gave the French cruisers such facil- 
ities as enabled them almost to ruin the trade and fish- 
eries of the English colonies. Circular letters were sent to 
all the colonies, as far south as Pennsylvania, requesting 
assistance, but no province south of New England complied 
with the request. An army of 4000 men was raised, 
transpoits were hired, and the command of the expedi- 
tion was given to William Pepperill. The troops arrived 
at Canso on the 4th of April, but were obliged to wait there 
for the melting of the ice by which the island of Cape Breton 
was surrounded. While the troops remained at Canso, ad- 
miral Warren arrived from England, with four ships of war, 
and after consulting with Pepperill, he proceeded to cruise 
before Louisburg. On the 30th of April, the troops 
landed on the island, and immediately began their approaches 
against the town. The general was a merchant, nor was 
there any one in the army of much military skill ; but the 
bravery of the troops was seconded by a variety of fortunate 
accidents, and orfthe 16th of June, the town surrendered. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 63 

This bold and successful enterprise attracted much atten- 
tion, both at home and abroad. It gave a striking proof of the 
growing strength of the colonies, and of the active and vig- 
orous spirit by which they were actuated. Pepperill, the 

leader of the colonial troops, received the honors 
1746 of knighthood. The next year, a large number of 

colonial troops was assembled for the purpose of 
invading Canada ; but the aids which were expected from 
England did not arrive, and nothing was done. So far from 
attaching their neighbors, the colonies began to be alarmed 
for their own safety. A large French fleet, under the duke 
D'Anville, arrived on the coast of Nova Scotia, and spread 
universal alarm throughout the I'^inglish colonies. Troops 
were everywhere assembled, the old forts garrisoned, and new 
ones built. But a violent storm, which shattered the French 
fleet, a pestilential fever which prevailed among the troops, 
and the sudden death of the admiral, compelled the French 
to abandon the enterprise, and relieved the anxiety of the 
colonies. 

The next year, there were some small military expeditions, 
hut none of much interest or consequence. The peace of 
Aix-la-Ghapelle, which was ratified toward the end of 1748, 
terminated the war. 



64 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Disputes between the French and Enirrlish respecting the boundaries of 
their North American Colonies. — French Colony of Louisiana. — Re- 
spective strengtli of the Frencli and English Colonies. — Mission of 
major Washington. — Battlf of the Great Meadows. — Scheme for a 
Union of the Colonics. — Expedition to Nova Scotia. — Removal of 
the Acadicns. — Braddock's defeat. — Defeat of Dieskau. — Treaty 
with the Cherokees. — Forts at Oswego, and fort William Henry taken 
by Montca'm. — Gieat exertions of the Co'onies. — I.ouisburg t^ken. 
— Abercicmbie repulsed at Ticonderoga. — Fort Frontinac surrenders. 
— Fort Da Quesne deserted by the French. — Amherst drives the 
French from Ticonderoga and Crown Point. — Foit Niagara taken. — 
Wolfe sails for Quebec. — Battie of Quebec — Tlic City .surrenders. — 
Battle of Sillery. — Montreal, and the other Frencii posts capitulate. — 
War with the Cherokees. — Peace of Fontainbleau, 17G3. — V/ar with 
the Western Indians — Peace. 

The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle was of no long continuance. 

New disputes between the governments of France 

1748 and England concerning the boundaries of their 

possessions in America, soon brought on a new war. 

The English colonies stretched along the Atlantic coast 
from north to south. The settlements were bounded 
on the west by the Alleghany mountains, but the English 
claimed an indefinite extent of country, stretching beyond 
those mountains towards the AVestern Ocean. The French 
colony of Canada extended along the great lakes to the 
north of the English territory; but there was another 
colony much farther south, which was now growing 
into importance. The French of Canada had been told 
by the Indians of a great river far to the west; and as early 
as 1673, Jolietand Marquette had been sent by the governor 
of Canada to explore it. They travelled through the wil- 
derness from lake Michigan to the Mississippi ; sailed down 
that river as far as the mouth of the Aikansas, and returned 
by land to Canada.*' In 1630, Father Hennepin explored 
the upper Mississippi, and reached the falls of St xAnthony; 
and two years after, Le Salle sailed down the river to the 
gulf of Mexico. He took formal possession of the country 

* Ferdinand de Soto had discovf-red the country on tlie Mis^^issippi 
130 years before ; but his countrymen did not follow up his discoveries, 
and they were now scarcely remembered. See chapter I. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



65 



on the banks of the Mississippi, and named it Louisiana^ in 
honor of Louis XIV., the French king. 

Several attempts were made to establish a colony near the 
mouth of the river. But the undertaking was attended with 
little success, till the year 1717, when the city of New Orleans 
was founded. The unhealthiness of the climate, wars with the 
Indians, and those other misfortunes to which new settlements 
are always exposed, retarded the progress of this colony; but 
by the year 1750, it had increased considerably, and the 
French had e^^tablished forts and trading houses along the 
whole course of the Mississippi, and upon many of its princi- 
pal branches. They pretended that the English provinces 
were bounded by the Alleghany mountains; and claimed the 
whole country watered by the Mississippi and its branches, 
as having been the first discoverers. They had formed a 
plan to unite the two colonies of Louisiana and Canada by a 
chain of forts, which would completely hem in the English, 
and prevent them from extending their settlements westward 
of the Alleghanies. 

The whole population of New France, — for under this gene- 
ral name all the French possessions in America were included, 
— did not much exceed 50,000 ; the population of the English 
colonies was over a million. Yet notwithstanding this dispar- 
ity of numbers, there were several circumstances which gave 
the French a considerable advantage over their English neigh- 
bors. Their whole territory was under the command of a sin- 
gle governor, while the English colonists were divided into 
several distinct jurisdictions. The French had great influence 
over all the Indian tribes; and except the Five Nations, who 
adhered to the English, most of the other Indians were their 
faithful allies, and afforded them great assistance in the 
course of the war. 

The French governor having formed his plan, proceeded 
to carry it into execution. He erected new forts and tra- 
ding houses ; forbade the Englisls traders to come 
1753 among the Indians : and seized all who disobeyed 
his commands. Dinwiddle, governor of Virginia, 
alarmed at these encroachments, resolved to send the 
French governor a message, asking an explanation of his 
conduct, and requiring him to desist. He selected for this 
service, George Washington, a major in the Virginia mili- 
tia, who, though not yet twentytwo, had already been noted 
6* 



GQ AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

as a young man of much promise. After a journey of four 
hundred miles, half of which lay through a country inhabit- 
ed only by Indians, Washington reached the French posts 
on the Ohio, and delivered his message to St Pierre, the 
commanding officer. 

An unsatisfactory answer was given, and more vigor- 
ous measures now became necessary. A regiment was 
raised and despatched towards the disputed 
1754 country. Major Washington, on whom the 
command devolved, by the death of the colonel 
first appointed, fell in with a detachment of the French 
forces, which he defeated. But as he was pressing on, to 
dislodge the enemy from fort Du Quesne, — a fortifica- 
tion commanding the course of the Ohio, lately built at the 
junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela, — he was at- 
tacked at the Great Meadows by a much superior force, 
and after a gallant defence, compelled to surrender. 

A war was now inevitable, and a convention of delegates 
from the several colonies was assembled at Albany, to make 
a treaty with the Five Nations, and secure their friendship 
and alliance. At this convention, a plan of union was pro- 
posed, for the purpose of enabling the colonies to carry on 
the war with more effect. The scheme agreed upon by 
the convention was as follows. A grand council, consisting 
of delegates from the several colonies was to be established, 
with a president general, to be appointed by the crown, 
who was to have a negative on all their proceedings. This 
council was to enact laws of general interest; to apportion 
the quotas of men and money to be raised by each colony; to 
build forts ; reguate the armies ; and concert such measures 
as might be necessary for the common safety and welfare. 
This scheme of union was never carried into effect. It 
was rejected in America, because it gave too much power 
to the crown ; it was disapproved in England, because it 
left too much authority with the colonies. 

The war had no sooner broken out, than the Indians, in 
small parties, with all their customary cunning 
1755 and cruelty, began an harassing warfare against 
the frontiers of Virginia and New England. But 
it was not by Indian skirmishes, tl at this contest was to be 
decided. Massachusetts, ever prompt and vigorous, was 
the first of the colonies to take the field. It has been men- 



or THE UNITED STATES. 67 

tioned already, that the French province of Acadie, had 
been ceded to tlie English by the treaty of Utrecht. But 
there was a question as to the extent of Acadie. The French 
maintained that it embraced only the peninsula of Nova 
Scotia, and claimed all the country between that river and 
the Kennebec, as a part of Canada. The English insisted 
that all the country south of the St Lawrence was included 
in the cession of Acadie. The French had occupied the con- 
tested territory, and erected forts to defend it. It was now 
resolved to dislodge them. An army of 3000 men, princi- 
pally Massachusetts troops, under colonel Moncton, a 
British officer, and general Winslow of the Massachusetts 
militia, sailed from Boston on the 20th of May, and five days 
after, arrived at Annapolis. They had little difliculty in 
compelling the French forts, Beau Sejour and Gaspareau, to 
surrender, and soon gained possession of the whole country. 
When Acadie had been surrendered, in virtue of the 
treaty of Utrecht, the French inhabitants, influenced by 
a natural attachment to their mother country, refused to 
take the oath of allegiance to the king of England, except 
under condition of never being conjpelled to bear arms 
against France. This conditional oath had been disallow- 
ed by the English government ; but the Acadiens had not 
been called upon to take any part in the preceding 
war, and were known by the name of French neutrals. 
Instead, however, of observing a neutrality, they had uni- 
formly assisted the French in the various contests, which 
occurred in the neighborhood ; and three hundred of them 
had been taken in arms with the garrison of Beau Sejour. 
It was judged too dangerous to leave this disaffected people 
in possession of Acadie, now that a new war was begin- 
ning ; and if they were ordered to leave the country and 
suftered to go where they pleased, it was evident they would 
remove to Canada, and add new strength to the enemy 
there. The only alternative was, to distribute them 
among the several English colonies. In execution of this 
harsh decree, the miserable Acadiens were torn from their 
homes, and put on board the British vessels. The nearest 
relatives were often unavoidably separated, and though the 
firmness and humanity of Winslow were exerted to alleviate 
their distress, their situation was in every respect, truly 
pitiable. In a single day they were reduced from com- 



68 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

petency and contentment, to the lowest degree of poverty 
and wretchedness. AH their land, and other property ex- 
cept money and household furniture, was declared forfeit to 
the crown; and to prevent the return of any who might 
escape, the houses were burned, and the whole country 
laid waste. This is one of those actions, which the com- 
mon policy of war, no doubt, will amply justify ; but which 
no feeling and generous heart can fail to condemn. 

Early in the spring, general Braddock, who had been 
appointed to the chief command in America, arrived in Vir- 
ginia with a number of British regiments. A convention of 
the colonial government niet him there, and resolved upon 
three distinct expeditions against the French. The most 
important,--^ that against fort Du Quesne, — was led by 
general Braddock in person. A body of provincial troops, 
consisting of light companies and sharp shooters, joined the 
British army, and colonel Washington attended general 
Braddock, in capacity of aid. The army, consisting of 2200 
men, mustered at the most westerly of the English posts, 
near the head of the Potomac, where the tovvn of Cumber- 
land is now situated. Here they were delayed a long time, 
waiting for the necessary supplies ; and when they began to 
advance, they were obliged to cut roads through a rough 
and difficult country, and their progress was extremely 
slow. Alarmed at this delay, Braddock resolved to leave 
colonel Dunbar to bring up the heavy baggage by easy 
marches, and to push forward himself, with all possible des- 
patch, at the head of twelve hundred picked men. 

He was warned of the dangers to which he was exposed by 
the nature of the country, and the character of the enemy 
with whom he was to contend ; and was advised to place the 
provincial companies in his front, with orders to scour the 
woods, and discover ambuscades. But the British general 
held both the enemy and the provincials, in too great con- 
tempt, to give any attention to this salutary advice. He 
pressed forward with fatal security; till having reached an 
open wood, thick set with h'gh grass, within seven miles of 

fort Du duesne, his van was suddenly attacked 
July 8 by an invisible enemy. The main body advanced, 

and the assailants were for a moment repelled. 
But they shortly renewed the attack with redoubled fury, 
and the English troops were thrown into hopeless confusion. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 0^ 

The French and Indians, concealed beneath the long grass 
and sheltered by the trees, poured in a murderous fire upon 
the close ranks of the British soldiers, who neither advanced 
nor retreated, but fell unresisting on the very ground 
where they were first attacked, Braddock exerted himself 
in vain to restore order ; he soon fell, mortally wounded, and 
most of his officers shared a similar fate The provincial 
companies, well acquainted with the Indian method of 
fi.^'hting, were the only part of the army which made any 
effectual resistance. They were the last to leave the field, 
and under the ^command of colonel Washington, afforded 
considerable protection to the flying regulars. Those who 
escaped the ^arnage of this battle fell back on Dunbar. 
He relinquished the expedition at once; destroyed all the 
stores except those necessary for immediate use, and 
marched his troops to Philadelphia, where they remamed 
idle the rest of the summer. In the meantime, the fron- 
tiers of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, left defence- 
less by this precipitate retreat, suffered all the extremi- 
ties of Indian warfare. The back settlements were broken 
up; and such was the universal pr^nic, that even the people 
oiijhe seaboard did not think themselves secure. 

ifrhe second of the expeditions which the assembled gov- 
ernors had planned, was designed against Crown Point, a 
fortress which the French had lately built near the 
southern extremity of lake Champlain.) The troops de- 
signed for this service, were principally from New Eng- 
land ; they assembled at Albany, and towards the end of 
August, advanced under general Johnson to the southern 
end of lake George. In the meantime, the Baron Dieskau 
at the head of 2000 French troops, descended lake Cham- 
plain, with the design of destroying; Johnson's army. On 
the news of his approach, colonel Williams, with a thousand 
merj, was despatched to meet him ; but this officer allowed 
himself to be drawn into an ambush, and after suffering 

severe loss, was obliged to retreat. Dieskau ap- 
Sept. 3 proached the English camp, and inmiediately 

began a violent assault. It was protected on both 
flanks by a thick swamp, and in front, by a breastwork of 
fallen trees; and Johnson broiight several pieces of cannon 
to bear upon the French, which so alarmed the Indians and 
Canadians, that they quickly took to flight. The regular 



ro 



AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 



troops soon followed their example, and were pressed by a 
close and ardent pursuit. A scouting party, that happened 
to be approaching the camp, fell upon the French baggage, 
and overpowered the guard. Dieskau himself was mortally 
wounded, and fell into the hands of the English. This 
battle was proclaimed throughout the colonies as a great 
victory. But it was not well followed up. No attempt was 
made on Crown Point, and the French were allowed to 
seize and fortify Ticonderoga. 

The third expedition was designed against Frontinac and 
Niagara, — two forts in possession of the French, the one 
at the northern, the other at the southern extremity of lake 
Ontario, — and was to be commanded by Shirley, governor 
of Massachusetts. }Late in August he arrived at Oswego, 
a post on the same lake, held by the English ; but heavy 
and continual rains, the desertion of his Indian allies, and 
the want of supplies, compelled him to abandon the expedition. 

Towards the close of the year, the governor of South 
Carolina, held a conference with the Cherokees, and obtained 
from them the cession of extensive tracts of territory. The 
French made every exertion to seduce the Cherokees from 
the English alliance, but met with little success. The tribe, 
at this time, could muster 3000 fighting men, but was very 
ill supplied vvith arms and ammunition. 

The next year. Lord Loudoun was appointed commander 
in chief of the English forces in America. But 
1756 the campaign was quite inactive. Several exten- 

sive expeditions were planned, but owing to the 
difficulty of raising men, the scarcity of supplies, and the 
breaking out of the small pox a mong the troops, nothing 
was done. While the English remained idle, the Marquis 
de Montcalm, who had succeeded to the chief command of 
the French forces, sailed down lake Ontario, and laid siege 
to Oswego. There were two forts, and a garrison of 1400 
men; but Montcalm pressed the siege with so much vigor, 
that a surrender soon became inevitable. At the 
Aug. 14 same time a considerable fleet stationed on the 
lake, fell into his hands. To gratify the Six 
Nations, in whose country the forts were situated, Montcalm 
destroyed them, and returned to Canada without leaving 
garrisons behind him. 

The next year, great preparations were made, and a large 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 71 

fleet and army assembled at Halifax, for an attack 
1757 on Louisburg, — this fortress having been restored 

to the French at the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. 
But the place was so strongly guarded by a fleet and army 
lately arrived from France, that it was judged imprudent to 
hazard an attack. While the English troops were drawn 
off' towards Halifax, Montcalm descended from Canada, and 
laid siege to fort William Henry, a strong post at the south- 
ern end of lake George. Here was a garrison of 3000 men; 
and 4000 men were stationed at fort Edward, on the Hud- 
son, a short distance to the southeast. But notwithstanding 
the strength of fort William Henry, and the ease with 
which aid might have been sent from fort Edward, Mont- 
calm pressed the siege with such warmth and ability, that 
at the end of six days, the fort with all its stores and artil- 
lery, was surrendered to the French. The garrison was to 

march out with the honors of war, and to be pro- 
Aug. 9 tected as far as fort Edward. But in spite of all 

Montcalm's exertions, his Indian allies fell upon 
the rear of the retreating and disarmed troops; murdered, 
plundered, and committed the most cruel outrages. 

Thus far the progress of the war had been extremely dis- 
astrous. With a much inferior force, the French had been 
almost uniformly successful. They had obtained the entire 
command of lakes Champlain and Ontario; they still main- 
tained their influence over the Indians, and held undisturbed 
possession of the country west of the Alleghanies. But a 
change was now about to take place. The celebrated Mr 
Pitt, afterwards earl of Chatham, was placed at the head 
of the English ministry, and the most viaorous preparations 
were made for prosecuting the war. New England alone 
raised 15,000 troops; large reinforcements arrived from 
Great Britain ; and general Abercrombie, on whom the chief 
command had now devolved, found himself at the head of 
50,000 men, including garrisons and troops of every descrip- 
tion. This was the most powerful army ever yet seen in 
America. 

The first blow fell upon Louisburg. Admiral Boscawen, 
with thirtyeight ships of war, having on board 14,000 sol- 
diers, commanded by general Amherst, arrived before that 
fortress on the 2d June. The troops were immediately 



72 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

landed, and the siege begun. It was prosecuted with the 
utmost vigor, and the fortifications, in a short time, were 
reduced almost to a he\p ot^ ruins. On the 2(Sth of July, 
Louisburg, with all its artillery, provisions and stores, to- 
gether with the islands of Cape Breton and St Johns, were 
surrendered to the English, 

In the meantime an army of 35,000 men, under Aber- 
crombie's own command, was assembled at Albany. They 
marched to fort William Henry, sailed up lake George, 
landed at its northern extremity, and after a slight skirmish 
with the enemyi ^o^k post within two miles of Ticonderoga. 
This fortress was surrounded on three sides by the water, 
and secured in front by a morass. Nearly 5000 men, in 
addition to the ordinary garrison, were stationed under the 
guns of the place. They were covered by a breastwork, 
the approach to which was defended by trees felled all along 
the front, with their branches cut, sharpened, and pointed 
outwards. An assault was, nevertheless, resolved upon, 
and the storming party were commanded to rush swiftly 
through the enemies' fire, reserving their own till they had 
passed the breastwork. The orders were executed and a 
gallant attack was made; but the soldiers became entangled 
among the fallen trees, and it was found impossible to carry 
the breastwork, which was eight or nine feet 
July 8 high, and much stronger than had been represent- 
ed, «Afier a contest of nearly four hours, and a 
loss of 2000 men in killed and wounded, Abercrombie was 
compelled to order a retreat. He relinquished his design 
against Ticonderoga, and retired to the southern extremity 
of lake George. 

Not long after, he sent colonel Bradstreet with 3000 men, 
chiefly provincials, on an expedition against fort Frontinac, 
Bradstreet marched to Oswego, where he embarked his 
troops. He landed within a mile of the fort, and in two 
days opened his batteries upon it. The French 
Aug. 27 soon found the place untenable, and were obliged 
to surrender at discretion. A large quantity of 
arms, provisions and stores, as well as a fleet of nine armed 
vessels, fell into the hands of the captors. 

Early in July, general Forbes, with an army of 8000 
men, marched from Philadelphia against fort Du Quesne. 
After many delays he reached the fort. It had been desert- 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 7S 

ed the evening before by the French garrison, who were 
utterly unable to defend the place against so formidable an 
enemy. The English took possession of this important 
place, and in compliment to the prime minister, gave it the 
name of Pittsburgh. The English flag was no sooner 
hoisted than the neighboring Indians began to come in, and 
propose treaties of peace. In a short time, quiet was 
once more restored to the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Vir- 
ginia. 

The next year, general Amherst succeeded to the chief 
command of the English army; and flushed with 
1759 the successes of the last campaign, apian was now 
formed for the entire conquest of the French pos- 
sessions. Amherst, with the main body of the forces, ad- 
vanced anew against Ticonderoga and Crown Point : and 
after many delays and some resistance, both places fell into 
his hands. But he was unsuccessful in his endeavors to 
pass up the lake, and was obliged to winter at Crown Point. 

General Prideau, with a strong detachment, sailed from 
Oswego, and landed near the fort at Niagara. The French 
alarmed for the safety of this important post, collected a body 
of regular troops from the nearest garrisons, and having as- 
sembled a great number of their Indian allies, resolved to 
fight a battle in its defence. Prideau had been killed durino" 
the siege, and Sir William Johnson had succeeded to the 
command. He was aware of the movements of the French, 
and prepared to receive them. They attacked him 
July 24 in his entrenchments, but were met with firm- 
ness, and in less than an hour were completely 
routed. This battle decided the fate of Niagara, which 
surrendered the next day. 

Meanwhile, general Wolfe, with SOOO men, and a formid- 
able train of artillery, embarked at Louisburg under convoy 
of several ships of war, and sailed for Quebec. After a 
prosperous voyage, he landed his troops on the island of 
Orleans, which divides the St Lawrence just below the city. 
Quebec stands on the northern bank of the St Lawrence, 
and consists of an upper and a lower town. The lower 
town is built on a beach, which stretches along the base of a 
lofty range of rock, called the Heights of Abraham. On 
the summit of this range, the upper town is built.; and the 
heights extend nearly parallel with the St Lawrence for a 
7 



74 



AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 



great distance above the city, affording on this side an al- 
most impregnable defence. . Quebec is protected on the east 
by the river St Charles, which flo'.vs into the St Lawrence, 
just below the town. Several armed vessels and floating 
batteries were moored in the St Charles; and Montcalm'', 
with a French army, was encam]>ed on its left bank. 

(Wolfe took possession of Point Levi, on the southern shore 
of the St Lawrence opposite Quebec, and erected batteries 
which played upon the town, and destroyed many houses. 
But the distance was too great for the shot to have any effect 
on the fortifications. He then resolved to hnd below the 
town, and forcing the passage of the Montmorenci, which 
flows parallel with the St Charles, a little farther to the east, 
to bring Montcalm to an action. The attempt was made, 
but owing to the impetuosity of the advanced party, who 
rushed to the charge before they could be properly supported, 

Wolfe's plan of attack was disconcerted, and he 
Aug. 25 was obliged to retreat with a loss of 500 men. 

An attempt was next made to destroy the French 
shipping, and to alarm the garrison by descents above the 
town. , One valuable magazine was burned; but the French 
ships were well protected, and it was found impossible to 
approach them. The season of action was fast passing, 
and if anything was to be done, it must be done without 
delay. The prospect was discouraging. The place seemed 
almost impregnable. But Wolfe did not despair. He knew 
that the city was but partially fortified on the land side, and 
conceived the bold idea of scaling the Heights of Abra- 
ham, and approaching it in that direction. This rocky bar- 
rier rose almost directly from the water's edge. There was 
but one landing place — a narrow beach, which might easily 
be missed in the dark — and the precipices of Abraham 
were so steep, as not to be easily scaled even by day, and 
when no opposition was to be feared. Not discouraged by 
these obstacles, Wolfe embarked his forces, and ordered the 
ships to move up the river, several miles above the place 
where the troops were to land. At night, the soldiers were 
disembarked into flat bottomed boats, and falling down 
with the tide, they succeeded in finding the landing 
place. Wolfe was the first to step on shore. The light 
troops, assisted by the branches of trees, and the rugged 
projections of the rocks, forced themselves up the heights, 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 75 

and having dispersed a small party of the enemy, protected 
the ascent of the rest. Early in the morning, the whole 
army was assembled on the plains of Abraham. 

When Montcalm was informed of this bold and adventu- 
rous step, he could scarcely believe the news. He supposed 
it impossible for an army to ascend such rugged precipices, 
and concluded that the troops above the city were only a 
small detachment intended to entice him away from his po- 
sition on the St Charles. But he soon discovered his mis- 
take; and knowing how slightly the city Vv'as fortified on the 
side towards the land, he saw that nothing but a victory could 
save it. Accor<ling!y he drew out his forces, and crossing 
the St Charles, approached the English army. 

The French advanced with large bodies of Canadians and 
Indians in their front, who kept up an irregular 
Sept. 13 fire upon the English. But Wolfe ordered his 
men to disregard these skirmishers, and to reserve 
their fire for the main body of tiie enemy who were fast 
approaching. The fiercest of the battle was on the right 
wing of the English and the left of the French, where the 
two generals were stationed. The fire was kept up with 
great spirit on both sides, till Wolfe, while leading up his 
grenadiers with charged bayonets, received a mortal wound. 
He fell; but the battle continued. Montcalm was soon after 
mortally wounded, and the French being closely pressed by 
the English bayonets, and the broadswords of the highland 
regiments, began to give way. In a little while, they were 
entirely broken, and fled partly into Quebec, and partly across 
the St Charles. The battle was scarcely finished, when De 
Bougainville, who had been sent by Montcalm with a body 
of 2000 troops to guard the passes above the city, appeared 
in the rear of the victorious army. Had he arrived an 
hour sooner, his presence might have changed the fortune of 
the day ; but as it was, he did not choose to risk a new en- 
gagement, and retired when the English advanced upon 
him. 

In a few days Quebec surrendered to the victorious army, 
and general Town«end, the successor of Wolfe, having left 
a garrison of 5000 men to keep possession of the city, 
sailed out of the St Lawrence. 

In the meantime, the French, under M. de Levi, concen- 
trated all their remaining forces in the neighborhood of 



76 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

1760 Montreal. ' Early the next spring, they advanced 
against Quebec, with the hope of recovering it 
before assistance could reach tlie garrison. General Murray, 
the governor of the city, wishing, if possible, to avoid a 
siege, drew his troops out of Quebec, and met the enemy 
at Sillery. Here a battle was fought with nearly 
April 28 equal loss on both sides, and Murray was com- 
pelled to retreat into Quebec. The city was im- 
mediately invested, but was soon relieved by an English 
fleet. The besiegers then retired to Montreal., 

All the efforts of the English were now directed against this 
last strong hold of the enemy. Amherst, at the head of 10,000 
men, marched to Oswego, and embarking his army there, 
sailed down the lake and the St Lawrenco^towards Montreal. 
At the same time, Murray, who commanded at Quebec, saileH 
up the river, and colonel Haviland passed up lake Cham- 
plain, with a detachment from Crown Point. The armies 
met before the town ; and the French governor, unable to 
oppose so overwhelming a force, Was obliged to surrender, 
not that place only, but Detroit, Michiiimacinack, and all 
the other ports within the boundaries of Canada, then re- 
maining in possession of the French. 

This conquest spread universal joy through the colonies. 
It delivered them from the neighborhood of an active and 
dangerous enemy, and saved them from those horrors, ex- 
penses, and alarms which had never failed to attend a French 
ajid Indian war. 

\ Hitherto, the colonies of South Carolina and Georgia, by 
keeping on good terms with their neighbors, tlie Cherokees, 
had enjoyed a profound peace. But this year, the intrigues 
of the French involved those colonies in a war with that 
tribe. A severe battle was fought near Etchoe, with 
nearly equal loss on both sides. The Indians then laid 
siege to fort Loudoun. The garrison was reduced to extre- 
mity of famine, and obliged to surrender. They were per- 
mitted to march out on terms, but the Indians fell upon them, 
and having massacred a number, made the rest prisoners. 
The frontiers suffered extremely, and earnest applications 
were made to general Amherst for assistance. 

Early the next spring, colonel Grant was sent to Caroli- 
na with a strong detachment of regular troops, 
1761 and the colony made great exertions to strengthen 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 77 

the army, by levying soldiers and assembling large bodies 
of friendly Indians. Grant marched into the Cherokee 
country, and another battle was fought near Etchoe. 
The Cherokees made a brave resistance, but at last gave 
way. Grant wasted their whole country ; destroying their 
cornfields, and laying their villages in ashes. The Indians 
were reduced to the last extremity, and were compelled to 
sue for peace. 

The influence of France had induced the king of Spain 

to take a part in the war against Great Britain. But 

this step cost him dear ; for the Spanish possessions in the 

West Indies were captured one after another, and at last 

Havana, the chief city of Cul)a, fell into the hands 

1763 of the English. At the beginning of 1763 a gen- 
eral peace was concluded. By this treaty, known 

as the treaty of Fontainbleau, France ceded to England all 
her possessions in North America, east of the Mississippi, 
except the city and island * of New Orleans ; and Spain 
ceded the Floridas, in exchange for the city of Havana. 

The colonists were congratulating themselves on the 
restoration of peace ; the regular troops were mostly with- 
drawn, and the back settlements, which had been broken 
up, were beginning to be reoccupied, when the settlers 
were alarmed by a new Indian war. There seems to 
have been a general (ftnfederacy of the western and 
northern tribes, through the influence of Pontiac, a chief of 
great ability. All the English outposts were attacked at 
once. Many of them surrendered on terms ; but the terms 
were disregarded, and the garrisons put to death. Forts 
Pitt and Detroit, though closely besieged still hehd out, and 
efforts were made to relieve them. After some 

1764 hard fighting this purpose was accomplished, 
and the next year a final peace was made with 

the Indian confederates. 

* What was then known as the Island of New Orleans, is now called 
the Delta cf the Mississippi. In 1763, New Orleans and the rest of 
Louisiana, were ceded to Spain. 



7* 



78 AN ABRIDGED HlSTORr 



CHAPTER IX 



Nature of the connexion between the Colonies and ihe Mother Country. 
— Stamp Act. — Congress at New York. — Repeal of the Stamp 
Act. — Duties on paper, glass, &c. — Discontent of the Colonies. — 
Duties repealed exce|)t that on tea. — Boston Massacre. — Insurrection 
in North Carolina. — Vessels loaded with tea sail for America. — Their 
reception. — Boston Port bill. — First Congress at Philadelphia. — Bat- 
tle of Lexington. — Ticonderoga and Crown Point taken. — Battle of 
Buiiker Hill. — Second Congress at Philadelphia. — Washington appoint- 
ed Commander-in-chief. — Expedition against Canada. — Assault on 
Quebec. — Boston evacuated. — Attack on Charleston. — Declaration of 
ladependence. — Population of the United States. 

The wars with the French and Indians being termina- 
ted, the colonists fondly expected a long interval of peace. 
They looked up to the mother country with love and rev- 
erence. They gloried in her power and her political in- 
stitutions, and relied undoubtingly on her care and protec- 
tion. But such is the uncertainty of human affairs, that 
this tie of fond dependence, strong as it seemed to be, was 
just on the point of being severed. The bright prospect of 
peace was soon to be overcast ; and the promise of a long 
period of prosperous tranquillity' was about to disappear 
amid the tumults of a fierce and nesperate conflict. 

The power which the British government might rightful- 
ly exercise over the American provinces, had 
17G4 never been very accurately settled. The New 
England colonies, during the earlier periods of 
their history, had claimed and exercised an almost entire in- 
dependence ; but time and circumstances had compelled 
them to lower their tone. The southern colonies had always 
been more under the control of the mother country. At 
the time of which we are now speaking, it was everywhere 
agreed, that the American people owed allegiance to the 
king of Great Britain ; and that the British parliament had a 
ricyht to regulate the trade of the colonies, and to lay such 
duties and imposts, as were necessary to enforce commercial 
regulations. Though the famous Navigation Act,* and 
other laws passed from time to time, the object of which 

* See p. 30. 



of fHE UNITED STATES. 79 

v/as, to give the mother country a monopoly of the colonial 
trade, Avere regarded with the greatest dislike, the right of 
parliament to pass such laws had never been questioned. 

But although they yielded this point, the colonists had al- 
ways steadily maintained that taxes could be levied only by 
the provincial assemblies, [t is a maxim of the English law, 
that no man can be taxed except by the vote of his repre- 
sentatives in parliament. The colonies were not repre- 
sented in the British parliament, and of course could not 
be taxed there. They were represented in their own pro- 
vincial assemblies, and there was the place where they ought 
to be taxed. Such was the reasoning of the colonists , and 
no one had ever doubted its correctness, till Mr Grenville, 
the English minister, introduced a resolution into the house 
of coiiimons, and that house voted unanimously, that par- 
liament had a right to tax America. 

The next year they put this new doctrine into practice, 
and passed an uct laying a tax on legal pro- 
1765 ceedings, policies of insurance, and other papers 
used in the transaction of business. »Noneofthe 
instruments enumerated in the act were to be held valid, 
except such as were executed on stamper/ paper, distributed 
by the agents of government at a fixed rate. From this cir- 
cumstance, the law was known as the Stamp Act. Colonel 
Barrc, who had served in America, and was well acquaint- 
ed with the temper of the people, made an eloquent speech 
against the bill, but it passed by a great majority. 

The passage of this bill caused a general burst of indig- 
nation, all over the colonies. The assembly of Virginia 
passed a set of resolutions, declaring the sole right of the 
colonies to tax themselves. Several other colonial assem- 
blies did the same ; and the general court of Massachusetts 
proposed a congress of deputies from the several colonies, 
to meet at New York, there to consult on the measures 
necessary to be taken at this alarming crisis. 

This congress, consisting of twentyeight delegates from 
nine of the colonies,* met on the 7th of October, and chose 
Timothy Ruggles of Massachusetts for their president. 
They prepared a Declaration of the Rights and Grievances of 

* Virginia, North Carolina, New Hampshire and Georgia, sent no 
delegates to this congress. 



80 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

the colonies, and agreed upon a Petition to the king and 
a Memorial to each house of parliameat, praying for a 
speedy repeal of the obnoxious law. In the meantime^ 
riots broke out in Boston, New York and other places, 
disgraceful in their character, and discouraged by the 
respectable part of the citizens, but such as plainly 
showed how highly the feelings of the people were excit- 
ed. The merchants of New York, Philadelphia and Bos- 
ton entered into an agreement to import no more goods 
from England, till the Stamp Act should be repealed ; and 
the excitement of the times was strong enough to produce 
a general union in this important measure. Though the 
day had passed, on which the law was to go into opera- 
tion, business was transacted by common consent, with- 
out stamps, and the act was everywhere treated as a mere 
nullity. 

At the next session of parliament, the subject of Ameri- 
can affairs was again brought forward, and pro- 

1766 duced very violent debates. Camden, in tbe house 
of lords, and Mr Pitt, (the former minister) in 

the house of commons, eloquently defended the rights of 
the colonies ; and notwithstanding a strong opposition, the 
Stamp Act was repealed. This just and politic measure 
caused great joy throughout America, and was everywhere 
celebrated by the ringing of bells, fireworks and festivals. 

The spirit of opposition, by which the encroachments of 
the British parliament had been encountered, was warmed 
and ripened by several able and spirited publications, pro- 
duced on the occasion, in which a popular view was taken of 
the question between the colonies and the mother country. 
Among the most celebrated of these performances, were, 
'The Rights of the British Colonies, Asserted and Prov- 
ed,' by James Otis of Boston ; an ' Essay on the Canon 
and Feudal Law,' by John Adams ; an * Enquiry into the 
Rights of the British Colonies,' by Richard Bland of Vir- 
ginia ; and ' Considerations on the propriety of imposing 
taxes on the British Colonies,' by Daniel Dulany of Ma- 
ryland. 

The joy of the colonies at the repeal of the stamp act, 

was quite premature. The idea of imposing direct taxes 

was'abandoned; but the very next year, parliament 

1767 passed an act laying duties on paper, glass. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 81 

paints and teas imported into the colonies. Here was 
taxation under pretence of regulating trade. This act, 
together with two or three others passed at the same session, 
excited anew the indignation of tlie colonies; and the 
* Farmer's Letters,' by John Dickenson of Pennsylvania, 
which were published about this time, and universally read, 
tended to kindle and sustain the public indignation. The 
provincial assemblies voted resolves, petitions, remonstran- 
ces and addresses. The general court of Massachusetts 
directed a circular letter to all the colonies, calling upon 
them to unite in such measures as were necessary to obtain 
redress. The non-importation agreements were renewed; 
and the seizure of a vessel at Boston, by the revenue oificers, 
brought on a new riot, in which many outrages were com- 
mitted. Towards the end of the year, several British regi- 
ments arrived at Boston. They were quartered on the com- 
mon and in the public buildings. C-innon were pointed in 
front of the building in which the general court assembled; 
guards were stationed at such places as were jiidged impor- 
tant; and soldiers were constantly in arms in different parts 
of the town. 

Affairs continued in the same troubled state all the next 
year. Parliament supported the ministers, and the 

1769 colonial assemblies petitioned and remonstrated. 
At length Lord Hillsborough, secretary for the 

colonies, addressed a letter to the several governors, in which 
he declared, that the minister had no intention to lay any 
further taxes on America, for the purpose of raising a revenue; 
and that it was intended to procure a repeal of the present 
taxes, so far as they were judged contrary to the true prin- 
ciples of commerce. 

Accordingly, Lord North, who was now prime minister, 
proposed a repeal of all the duties except that on 

1770 tea; and after much debate, a law to that effect 
was passed. But this was far from satisfying the 

colonies. It was not because thoy valued the paltry tax of 
three pence a pound on tea; — but they were opposed, alto- 
gether, to the principle of parliamentary taxation; and could 
not be satisfied while any law, founded upon that principle, 
remained in existence. 

A riot, which happened at Boston on the 5th March, in 
which the soldiers fired upon the crowd, killed three citizens. 



82 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

and dangerously wounded five more, tended still farther to 
exasperate the feelings of the people. This affair was known 
as the So st on 3Iassacre, and for several years was commemo- 
rated by a public address. The captain of the })arty, and 
eight of his men were committed to goal, and tried for mur- 
der. Two of the soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter, 
— the others were acquitted. 

An occurrence in North Carolina, which happened about 

this time, though not connected with the history of 
1771 the revolution, deserves some notice. The people in 

the back settlements were a rude, uncultivated race. 
They felt, or thought they felt, many oppressions growing out 
of the administration of justice ; and taking the name of regu- 
lators, they rose in arms to the number of 1500 for the avowed 
purpose of shutting up the courts, and destroying the lawyers ; 
and probably with the design of overturning the government. 
Governor Tryon marched against them at the head of 1000 
militia, and totally defeated them in a battle near Almansee. 
Three hundred of the regulators were found dead on the 
field ; several were taken prisoners, tried and executed. 
After many delays, the British government resolved to put 

the temper of the colonists to an effectual trial, 
1773 Hitherto, the non-importation agreements had 

prevented any tea from entering the colonies, and 
the obnoxious duty had of course remained unpaid. It was 
thought that if the colonists could be once made to pay the 
duty, future compliances would be more easy; and the East 
India Company was ordered to send several vessels loaded 
with teas to the principal ports of the colonies. The ships 
which arrived at New York and Philadelphia, were sent 
back without being permitted to unlade their cargoes. At 
Charleston, the tea was landed; but it was stored in damp 
cellars where it soon perished. The people of Boston tried 
every means to send back the vessels which arrived there, 
but without success. The masters were willing to return ; 
but they could not obtain clearances at the Custom House; 
and the governor would not permit them to pass the fort. 
If the tea were landed, it would probably be sold, and the 
purpose of the British minister in some measure accomplish- 
ed. To prevent this, a number of persons, disguised as In- 
dians, boarded the vessels as they lay in the harbor, broke 
up the tea chests, and emptied their contents into the sea, 



OP THE UNITED STATES. 83 

This daring outrage provoked the British Parliament to 
the highest degree; and they immediately passed an 
1774 act, known as the Boston Port BUI, shutting 
up the harbor of Boston, and removing the custom 
house to Salem. They passed a second act for regulating 
the government of Massachusetts bay, the object of which 
was to alter the charter and abridge the liberties of the 
province. The earl of Catham * and Mr Burke exerted all 
their eloquence in defence of the colonies, but wholly with- 
out avail; and the bills passed by very large majorities. 

The Boston Port Bill went into operation on the first of 
June, and at once deprived the greater part of the population 
of their usual means of subsistence. But the sufferings of the 
Bostonians found relief in the^sympathy of their country- 
men. Contributions were everywhere raised ; and the peo- 
ple of Salem, unwilling to profit by the distress of their 
neighbors, gave up their wharves and warehouses to be used 
by the Boston merchants. 

The general court of Massachusetts advised a new Con- 
gress, and the proposal was readily acceded to. Delegates 
from eleven colonies t met at Philadelphia on the 5th of 
September, and chose Peyton Randolph of Virginia, for their 
president. After considerable debate, it was resolved, that 
each colony, whatever were the number of its deputies, should 
have but one vote. The Congress soon agreed on a Declaration 
of Rights, an Address to the king, a Memorial to the people 
of British America, and an Address to the people of Great 
Britain. These papers were drawn up with great ability, 
and had a very perceptible influence on public opinion both 
in England and America. The Congress wrote letters to 
the people of Canada, and the colonies of Nova Scotia, 
Georgia, and the Floridas, inviting them to unite in the 
common cause. After a session of eight weeks, this body 
dissolved itself; but not without advising that another con- 
gress should assemble the next year, unless a redress of 
grievances should be previously obtained. 

In the meantime, additional troops were landed in Boston, 
and every exertion was made to strengthen the fortifications 

* Formerly Mr Pitt. — He had been lately raised to the Peerage, 
f The deputies oi North Carolina did not arrive till the 14th. Geor- 
gia did not send. 



84 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

of the town. Gage, who was now governor of Massachu- 
setts, as well as commander of the troops, refused to call a 
meeting of the general court. But the members assembled 
notwithstanding, ajid resolved themselves into a provincial 
congress. They met at Cambridge ; and neglecting the ad- 
monitions of the governor, who warned them to desist from 
such illegal proceedings, they took measures for enlisting an 
army of 12,000 men, and for calling out the militia as emer- 
gencies might occur. 

The British parliament remained as obstinate as ever. The 
petition of congress was refused a hearing ; the 
1775 conciliatory bills introduced by Lord Catham 
were rejected ; and acts restraining the trade of the 
colonies were passed by a large majority. The provincial con- 
gress of Massachusetts still continued their preparations for 
war. Arms and ammunition were collected ; stores were 
laid up, the militia were trained with the utmost assiduity; 
and a part of them were enrolled as minute-men, who were 
to be ready for active service at a minute's warning. 

The spirit of the people was now about to be tried. A 
quantity of provisions and military stores had been collected 
under authority from the provincial congress at Concord, 
eighteen miles from Boston. General Gage resolved to de- 
stroy them ; and on the 19th of April, despatched on this 
service eight hundred grenadiers and light infantry. The 
detachment commenced its march towards Concord early 
in the morning. The main body reached Lexington, five 
miles from Concord, about sunrise, and on the green near 
the church found a small party of militia assembled and under 
arms. Major Pitcairn, the British commander, galloped up 
to them, crying out, ' Dis[)erse, disperse, you rebels ; throw 
down your arms and disperse,' — and when he found the 
militia rather slow in th -ir obedience, he ordered his troops 
to fire. Eight were killed and several others wounded ; the 
rest scattered, though not without firing a few shots, and 
Pitcairn marched on to Concord. The inhabitants had re- 
ceived the alarm, and were posted on a hill in front of the 
town. But finding themselves too few to cope with the reg- 
ulars, they withdrew to another hill on the opposite side of 
the river, where they waited for reinforcements. The Bri- 
tish entered the town, and destroyed many of the stores. 
But the alarm had been given; the militia were fast collect- 



OF THE UNITED STATES. SB 

ing ; and it became necessary to retreat with all possible 
speed. The people of the neighboring towns were already 
in arms. They attacked the retreating troops on every side; 
6ring from behind the fences and stone walls; pressing 
upon the rear ; and galling both the flanks. The British 
were in danger of being entirely cut off, when they were 
met at Lexington by Lord Percy, who had marched from 
Boston with 900 men, and two field-pieces to cover their 
retreat. Percy's division received Pitcairn's exhausted troops 
within a hollow square, and for a while kept the militia at a 
<listance with their cannon ; but the retreat was no sooner 
renewed 5 than the attack was renewed also. By sunset^ 
the British, fatigued and almost worn out, reached the neigh- 
borhood of Boston, They had lost during the day 273 
men. The loss of the militia was eightyeight^, 

The battle of Lexington was the beginning of along war. 
Throughout the colonies, the forts, magazines and arsenals 
were seized, troops were raised, and the militia were drilled 
and disciplined. An army of 20,000 men, principally 
from New England, collected in the vicinity of Boston, and 
blockaded the British troops, by whom that town was held. 

A small body of men under colonel Arnold, from the 
camp before Boston, and about the same time, though with- 
out concert, a party from the New Hampshire Grants,* under 
Ethan Allen, formed a plan for seizing the forts on lake 
Champlain, which, notwithstanding their great importance, 
were insufficiently guarded, and in no expectation of an at- 
tack. The two parties united, and were corn- 
May 10 pletely successful. Without the loss of a single 
man, they gained possession of Ticonderoga and 
Crown Point, with all their artillery, ammunition and stores. 

The British troops in Boston had received large reinforce- 
ments, and their movements seemed to indicate an intention 
to penetrate into the country. The better to prevent any 
attempt of this kind, the commanders of the besieging army 
resolved to take possession of Bunker Hill, near the entrance 
of the peninsula of Charlestown, and commanding the road 
north from Boston into the country. A detachment of a 
thousand men under colonel Prescott, was sent on this ser- 
vice. They marched in the evening, and were to entrench 
themselves on Bunker Hill during the night. But by some 

* Now Vermont. 



86 



AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 



mistake thry advanced to Breed's Hill, at the further end of 
the peninsula, and much nearer i3oslon. They occupied 
this hill unobserved, and immediately beffan to fortify it. 
By morning they had throu'n up a considerable redoubt, 
much to the astonishment of the British, who immediately 
opened a heavy fire upon them from their ships in the river, 
and their batteries in Boston. The provincials, nothing dis- 
mayed, labored on under a shower of shot and shells, till 
they had completed a small breastwork, extending easterly 
from the redoubt to the water. 

While the provincials held Breed's hill, Boston was not 
secure; and Gage thought it necessary to dislodge them im- 
mediately. Ten companies of light infantry, ten of grena- 
diers, and a body of artillery, were ferried across the river, 
and landed at the foot of the hill. But observing the firm- 
ness of the provincials they waited the arrival of additional 
forces. In the meantime, the Americans received a rein- 
forcement under generals Warren and Pomeroy; and the 
troops stationed west of the redoiibt, where there was no 
breastwork, pulled up the neicrhboring fences, and placing 
them in parallel lines, a little distiince apart, filled up the in- 
terval between with the new mown hay which lay scattered 
about t!ie hill; and thus formed an imperfect cover from 
the fire of the enemy. The British were now reinforced, 

and advanced to the attack, drawn up in two 
June 17 lines. The artillery played on the redoubt and 

breastwork, and the beautiful village of Charles- 
town wantonly set on fire by the eneujy, and soon wrap- 
ped in flames, gave additional grandeur to the scene. The 
British moved slowly on; and the provincials, calm and 
steady, awaited the attack. The enemy had approached 
within'a hundred yards of the breastwork, when at once, a 
sheet of fire burst from the American lines; and the quick 
and heavy discharge of musketry, kept up without intermis- 
sion and directed with unerring aim, spread death and con- 
fusio'n among the British ranks. They stopped, wavered, 
and then broke, and fled in great disorder towards the land- 
inr place. But they were rallied by their ofiicers, and again 
brouLTht to the charge. The provincials waited as before; 
a-raiirthey renewed their fatal fire, and again the enemy fled 
back in confusion. They were rallied with difficulty, and 
reluctantly advanced a third time. The powder of the pro- 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 87 

vmcials began to fail, and their fire was less heavy than 
before. Some cannon had been pointed so as to sweep 
the breastwork from end to end; the fire from the ships, the 
batteries, and the field artillery was redouiiled ; and the 
British troops pressing forward, carried the redoubt at the 
point of the bayonet. The provincials had no bayonets; but 
they defended themselves as well as they could with the 
butt ends of their muskets; and effected a retreat over Charles- 
town neck without any Cf)nsiderable loss, though the road 
was continually swept by the fire of the British ships. The 
battle was lost; but the provincials considered such a defeat 
as equivalent to a victory. They had met the disciplined 
troops of Britain, and come off with honor. Out of 301)0 
men engaged in the battle, the British had lost over 1000 in 
killed and waunded. The provincials engaged did i]ot exceed 
2000; their loss was 45"2. The gallant general Warren wa> 
among the slain. The British occupieil Bunker's hill, ami 
fortified it; but the blockade of Boston was ke|)t up as before^ 
In the meantime, a second Congress had assembled at 
Philadelphia. They met on the 10th day of May, and on 
the 1 9th, chose John Hancock of Massachusetts tor theii' 
president. They again petitioned the king, and addressed 
the inliabitants of Great Britain ; but at the same time, 
began to take more vigorous and efficient measures for en- 
forcing their rights. They assumed the style of the Twelve 

United Coloxies ; * voted an army of 20,000 
June 15 men ; appointed George Washington conimatuler 

in chief; and issued bills of credit to defray the 
expenses of the war. Washington arrived at Cambridge on 
the 2d of Jvily, and immediately entered on the chief com- 
mand. He fount! the troops full of zeal and spirit, but 
])norIy armed, equipped and disciplined. He made every 
exertion to cure these defects, and to push the siege of Bos- 
ton with vigor. 

Armed vessels were fitted out in the ports of iVew Eng- 
land, atjd cruised with great success. They took several 
ships laden with ammunition and stores for the British army, 
and contributed miich to relieve the scarcity of these arti- 
cles, which prevailed in the American camp, and impeded 
every active operation, 

* Genr^ya a<? yet had sent no deleg;a'^e?! to tlii'? Congress, and did not 
jo'u in the measures of the other colonies till July. 



m 



AW ABRIDGED HISTORY 



The inhabitants of Canada were mostly of French 
origin. They knew little of the rights of British subjects; 
cared perhaps little about them ; and had taken no part in 
the opposition to the British government. But as the facil- 
ities of water communication exposed the colonies to inva- 
sion from that quarter, it was judged necessary to get posses- 
sion of the Canadian fortresses, and to induce the inhabitants 
of that province to unite with the other colonists, in resisting 
the encroachments of the mother country. General Mont- 
gomery had been appointed to the chief command in the 
northern department. He ascended lake Champlain witb 
an army of 2000 men, and having entered the river Sore!, 
succeeded in reducing the forts, Chamblee and St Johns, 
He then advanced upon Montreal. The few British troops 
there, endeavored to escape down the river, but 
Nov. 13 were intercepted and taken prisoners. Montreal 
immediately submitted ; and Montgomery having 
left a garrison, pushed on towards Quebec. 

In the meantime, colonel Arnold had been detached 
from the camp before Boston, at the head of a thousand 
men with orders to march on Quebec in a different direc° 
tion. He ascended the river Kennebec to its source ; and 
then striking across the unexplored wilderness, directed 
his march for the capital of Canada. The troops endured 
incredible hardships, from the scarcity of provisions and 
the difficulties of the route ; and one division, in order to 
escape starvation, was obliged to return. But at the end of 
six weeks, the other division reached the St Lawrence^ 
and encamped on the southern bank of that river, oppo- 
site Quebec. Arnold's sudden and unexpected appear- 
ance, caused the greatest alarm ; and could he have crossed 
the river immediately, the city, most likely, would have fallen 
into liis hands. But the boats had been removed or de- 
stroyed; and several days elapsed before he was 
Nov. 14 able to pass the river. He landed on the narrow 
beach ; and ascending the same steep and ragged 
precipices which Wolfe had climbed before liim, he drev/ 
up his little army on the plains of Abraham. The inhabit- 
ants and garrison of Quebec had recovered their courage, 
and taken every precaution for the defence of the city. 
Arnold summoned them to surrender, but his flags were 
lired at. and no answer returned. He was in no condition 



OF THE UNITED STATESo O^ 

to undertake a siege, and withdrew his troops twenty 
miles up the river to wait the arrival of Montgomery- 
Montgomery was obliged to leave so many garrisons 

and detachments behind him, that when he 
Dec. joined Arnold, their united forces did not exceed 

a thousand men. They marched back to Que- 
bec, and opened batteries on the town ; but their artillery 
was not heavy enough to produce any effect upon the for- 
tifications. After waiting nearly a month, they resolved to 
attempt an assault. This attempt was almost desperate ; 
but it was their only resource. To distract the attention 
of the garrison, two false attacks were made upon the 
upper town ; while the real attacks were made on opposite 
sides of the lower town, by two divisions under Mont- 
gomery and Arnold. Early in the morning, in the midst 
of a heavy fall of snow, which concealed them from the 

sight of the garrison, the troops moved to the as- 
Dee. 31 sault. Montgomery was slain at the first barrier ; 

and his party retreated without making a second 
attempt. Arnold, who attacked the town on the other 
side, pressed swiftly on through an incessant fire of grape 
shot and musketry ; but just as he reached the first barrier, 
the bone of his leg was shattered by a musket ball, and 
he was carried back to the camp. Not discouraged by the 
fall of their leader, captain Morgan, with his company of 
riflemen, rushed on ; passed the first barrier ; carried the 
battery beyond, and made the guard prisoners. Morgan 
formed his nlen ; but the morning was dark; he h id no 
guide, and was totally ignorant of the situation of the town. 
Under these circumstances, he judged it best to proceed 
no farther. He was joined by some fragments of other 
companies, and when the day dawned, found himself at 
the head of about two hundred men. They called upon 
him to lead them against the second barrier, which wo.s 
only about forty paces in front, though concealed from their 
view by an angle in the street. Morgan accordingly ad- 
vanced. The soldiers planted their ladders again jt the 
barricade ; but they were received with a heavy fire, and 
those who ascended the ladders saw on the other side, 
double ranks of soldiers with their muskets planted on the 
ground, presenting a hedge of bayonets to any wh • should 
attempt to leap the barricade. Exposed in a narro .v street 
8* 



90 AN ABRIDGED HlSTORlf 

to an incespant fire, the ranks of the assailants were socm 
thinned. Those who escaped, threw themselves into 
the stone houses on either side of the way. Here they 
continued the contest some time longer ; but they were be- 
numbed with cold ; the snow had rendered their muskets 
unserviceable, and they were obliged to surrender prisoners 
of war. Four hundred men were lost in this unlucky as- 
sault. Arnold retired three miles down the river with the 
remainder of his army, and though inferior in numbers to 
the garrison, kept up ttie blockade through the winter. 
Large supplies were voted for the northern army ; but 

they arrived very slowly. The garrison of due- 
1776 bee received reinforcements from England, and 

began to act on the offensive. The American 
army w^as in no condition to offer effectual resistance. 
It was driven from one post to another, and by the middle 
of June was obliged to evacuate Canada entirely. 

Meanwhile Washington continued the siege of Boston- 
He met ivith many obstacles in the scarcity of military 
stores, and the undisciplined state of the army. But he 
was of a temper not easily to be discouraged. He labored 
day and night to reduce the army to order ; and to devise 
the means of driving the enemy from Boston. With the de- 
sign of compelling them to quit the town, or else to risk a 
battle to preserve it, he secretly sent a strong detachment 
on the night of the 4th of March, to take possession of Dor- 
chester Heights,* an elevation which overlooks and com- 
mands the waters of Boston harbor. The troops labored 
hard; and by the morning had thrown up a considerable en- 
trenchment. Unless the provincials were driven from this 
ground, it would be impossible for the British ships to lie 
safely in the harbor. Preparations were accordingly 
made for an attack ; but a furious storm prevented the 
troops from embarking, and in the meantime, the worka 
were so far strengthened, that an attack wasjudg- 
March 17 ed impracticable. It was now necessary to 
evacuate the town. The British troops retired to 
Halifax, and Washington entered Boston in triumph. But 
fearing for the safety of New York, he soon after fixed 

* Now called South Boston Heights. 



OP THE UNITED STATESo ^1 

his head-quarters there ; and the army marched in several 
divisions lor the neigliborhood of that city. 

The British possessed great advantages in the complete 
command they had of the ocean. Tliey could attack the 
most distant places at the same time, or suddenly concen- 
trate their forces on one point. On the 2Sth of June, the 
city of Charleston in South Carolina was attacked by a 
British fleet, under Sir Peter Parker. The town wad 
defended by a fort on Sullivan's island, commanded by 
colonel Moultrie. He gave the English sliips so warm a re- 
ception, that after an action often hours, they were oblig- 
ed to sheer off, extremely shattered, and with a loss of 
more than -two hundred men. The loss of the garrison was 
onl}' thirtytwo. 

The disputes with the mother country had now termina- 
ted in open war; all hope of reconciliation was past; and 
the colonies took the bold and decisive, but judicious step, of 
declaring themselves, Free and Independent States. Con- 
gress had the question of independence under considera- 
tion for a considerable time. It was moved by Richard 
Henry Lee of Virginia ; and at first there was some diver- 
sity of opinion. Jnhn Adams of Massachusetts, argued in 
favor of the motion, and John Dickenson of Pennsylvania^ 
spoke eloquently against it ; but after a full discussion, the 
measure was approved of by a unanimous vote. John Ad- 
ams, Thomas Jefferson and Roger Sherman had been ap- 
pointed a committee to draw up a Declaration of Independ- 
ence. This declaration was subscribed by the members of 
congress, and published on the 4th of July, 1776.* After 
stating those unalienable rights which are the birthright of 
all mankind, and reciting the injuries and usurpations of 
the British government, it mentions the repeated petitions 
for redress, which had been answered only by repeated in- 
juries, and concludes in the following energetic terms, 
* We therefore, the representatives of the United States of 
America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the 
Supreme Judge of the world, for the rectitude of our inten- 
tions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good 
people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that 
these united colonies are, and of a right ought to be, Free 

* It is understood to have been wrltteRi by Mr Jefferson, 



93 AN ABRIDGED IIISTORIT 

and Independent States ; that tliey are absolved from 
'all allegiance to the Britibh crown, and that a!l political 
connexion between them and the state of Great Britain is, 
and ought to be totally dissolved ; and that as free and in- 
dependent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude 
peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all 
other acts and things, w hich independent states ought to 
do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm re- 
liance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutual- 
ly pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our 
sacred honor.' 

From this time the colonies are known in history, as the 
United States of America. At the declaration of in- 
dependence the population of the United States was about 
three millions. This population was scattered along the 
coast from Maine to Georgia, and in no part of the 
country extended to any considerable distance inland. 
The Alleghanies were a barrier which had not yet been 
passed. 



CHAPTER X 



Howe arrives befote New York. — Battle of Long Island. — TCew York 
evacuated. — Battle of VMiite Plains. — Fori Washington taken by- 
storm. — Fori Lee abandoned. — Washington retreats through the Jer- 
eeys. — Battle of Trenton. — Battle of Pi incetown. — Washington re- 
covers the Jerseys, and takes post at Morristown. — Organization of the 
Jirmy. — Stores destroyed at i'eekskill. — At Duxbury. — Meig's Expe- 
dition to Long Island. — Howe sails for the Chesapeake. — Lands at 

lie head of Elk. — Battle of Brandywine. — Wayne surprised 

Philadelphia evacuated. — Battle of (Jermanlown. — Battle of Red 
Bank. — Attack on fort Mifflin. — Communication opened between the 
British army and fleet. 

About the end of June, general Howe, who had suc- 
ceeded Gage in the chief command of the British forces in 
America, arrived before New York, and landed his troops on 
Staten island. Admiral Ilovve arrived soon after with re- 
inforcements from England ; and the British army amjunt- 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 93 

ing to 24,0C0 men,* in the highest state of equipment and 
discipline, prepared for active operations. The American 
troops were about 27,000; but of these near one quarter 
were sick, and a large part were militia, very insufficient- 
ly armed. General Sullivan with 15,000 men, was en- 
trenched at Brooklyn on Long island ; the remainder of the 
army occupied different stations on York island. t The 
British general resolved to make his first attempt against 
the troops on Long Island ; and with this design he cross- 
ed over from Staten, and landed his army on the oppo- 
site shore. Between the station now occupied 
Aug. 22 by the British army, and the American camp 
at Brooklyn, there extended a range of thickly 
wooded hills, crossed by three different roads. The Ameri- 
cans were advanced considerably beyond their camp, and 
were stationed along the foot of these hills. Orders had 
been given to guard the passes with the utmost watchfulness. 
But these orders were not sufficiently regarded ; and the 
British army advancing by night along the three roads, 
passed all the defiles, and attacked the Americans early 
the next morning. The right of the British suc- 
Aug. 27 ceeded in turning the American left ; and pushed 
in between the centre and the camp. The 
centre being closely pressed in front, and perceiving 
that the British right had gained their rear, began to 
retreat. But they were met and opposed by the Brit- 
ish right ; and were for some time driven backward and 
forward between the two hostile corps. Some forced their 
way through the enemy and escaped into Brooklyn ; others 
saved themselves in the coverts of the woods ; but the 
greater part were killed or taken. The right of the Amer- 
icans succeeded in getting into Brooklyn ; but lord Stir- 
ling, their commander, was taken prisoner. The British 
army encamped immediately in front of the American line, 
and began to make preparations for an assault. But on 

* A coniiderahle p-^rt of these troops were Hessians, hired in Germa- 
ny. The English jrovernmeut found it cheaper to employ (German 
than EngHsh soldier-j ; hut the introduction of foreign tioops into their 
country, tended not a little to exasperate the feelings of the AKicricaa 
people. 

1 Otherwise called ManbaUan, the island rm vjhlch the city of New 
York is buiU. 



94 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

the niffht of the 20th, the troops effected a retreat across 
the East river,* unobserved by the enemy, and landed in 
safety on the shore of York island. In this battle, the 
British lost 450 men ; the loss of the Americans was much 
more severe, though it was never very accurately ascer- 
tained. The British took over 10(10 prisoners ; and in 
prisoners, killed, irounded and missincr, the loss of the 
Americans probably exceeded 2000 inen. 

Obstructions had been sunk in the North and East riv- 
ers, and batteries had been erected at every convenient 
point. Ikit in epite of all attempts to prevent it, the Brit- 
ish ships passed up both of the rivers; and general Howe, 
with his army crossed the East river, and landed on York 
island three miles above the city. The troops who were 
ordered to oppose the landing ol the British, panic struck 
by the late disaster on Long island, fled in the greatest 
disorder ; and Washington, who was in no ccr dit on to risk 
a battle for its safety, found himself obliged ta abandon 
New York. He lost but few men in his retreat ; but was 
compelled to leave behind him all his heavy artillery and 
baggage, and much of his provisions and military stores. 
'J'he British army entered New York on the 15th of Sep- 
tember. The Americans letired to the northern part of 
York island, where they occupied a strongly entrenched 
camp. But they were not permitted to retain this station 
long ; for general Howe ])assed up the East river, land- 
ed a large part of his army above the American camp, 
and made it necessary for Washington, either to abandon 
liis present Tnies, or suffer himself to be inclosed in them. 
After hearing the advice of a council of war, Washington 
resolved to abandon the whole of York island except fort 
AVashington on the Hudson, in which v.as left a garrison 
of 3(iC0 men, and to retreat up the river. 

Both artnies now moved by nearly parallel roads towards 
White Plains. They were separated only by the river 
Bronx, a sniall stream wliich flows southerly into Long isl- 
R!id -otmd ; and several skirmishes took place from time to 
time. The American army having encamped at White 
Plains, was attacked by the British, and a considerable ac» 

* The rbannel which separates Loniri land ond York island is called 
the East livcr ; the Hudsou iiotlen called the Moith liver. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 95 

lion took place. The contest was animated, but 
Oct. 2S short and iuiiecisive. The loss was about eqnul, 
and amounted on either side to between three and 
four hundred men. The British army was soon after rein- 
f)rced, aFid preparations were made for a second attack. But 
Washington withdrew by night, and took post on the heights 
of North Castle, — a pr)sitioii so strong as to secure him 
from any immediate danger. 

The British general, having been baffled in his attempt to 
force Washington into a battle, now turned his attention to- 
wards acquiring complete possession of York island. Tlie 
Americans still held fort Washington on that island, and oppo- 
site to it, on the Jersey shore, fort Lee. These two fortresses 
commanded, in a considerable degree, the navigation of the 
Hudson ; and on that account genera! Howe was anxious to get 
possession of them. With this design, he moved his forces 
down the river, and Washington, suspecting his intention, 
left general Ijee with 7590 men to guard the c mip at North 
Castle ; crossed the Hudson with the rest of his army ; and 
moved down the river to fort F^ee. In the meantime, Howe 
collected all his f)rces in York island, and on the 16th of 
November, fort Washington was assaulted by the British 
army. They made the attack in four divisions. The place 
was bravely defended by colonel iMagaw ; but the outworks 
were soon carried by the enemy; the fort was too small to 
contain all the garrison; Magaw's ammunition was nearly ex- 
hausted ; and he was obliged to surrender himself and his 
troops, prisoners of war. This was a severe blow to the 
Americans, and the greatest loss they had yet suffered. In 
storming the fort, the British lost over 8J0 men, but the 
nufnberof Ameriean prisoners exceeded 3000. The British 
soon after crossed the Hudson, and approached fort Lee. 
The garrison was too small to make any effectual resistance, 
and the place was instantly evacuated. 

Washington had tKken post at Newark ; but his army 
was now nmch reduced by the losses of the campaign, and by 
the departure of those soldiers whose term of service had 
expired. His whole force, exclusive of the troops at North 
Castle, did not exceed 3000 men fit for duty; and the?/ were 
without entrenching tools ; and exposed to the severity of the 
season without tents, badly armed, worse cla 1, and destitute 
even of blankets. The British, flushed with success, were ad- 



96 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

vancing in great force to attack him ; and there was no other 
rej^onrce but a further retreat. After a vain attempt to raise 
the militia of the Jerseys, he retired to Brunswick, on the 
llaritan. The British troops pursued, and Washington re- 
treated to Princetovvn ; from Princetovvn he retired to Tren- 
ton, and at Trenton he crossed the Delaware to 
Nov. 28 the Pennsylvania side. The pursuit was urged 
with so much rapidity, that the rear of the Ame- 
ricans employed in palling down bridges, was often within 
sight and shot of the van of the British, employed in building 
them up. 

Washington secured all the boats on the river, and placed 
his men so as to guard the principal fords. Great fears were 
entertained that the British would pass the river, and attack 
Philadelphia. Congress adjourned their sittings to Baltimore; 
lines of defence were drawn about Philadelphia; fifteen hun- 
dred militia were collected to reinforce the army; redoubts 
were thrown up opposite the principal fords; and the river was 
watched with the. greatest care. Orders were sent to gene- 
ral Lee, to leave the passes on the Hudson to the care of 
the New England militia, and to march with all speed to 
join the army of Washington. Lee preferred a separate 
command, and was not over hasty in obeying these orders. 
He proceeded slowly through the northern part of the Jerseys^ 
along a road about twenty miles west of the British army. 
Daring the march, he quartered carelessly under a small 
guard, at a house three miles distant from his main body; 
where he was surprised and taken prisoner by a corps of Brit ish 
cavalry. General Sullivan, the next in command, led the 
troops across the Delaware, and formed an immediate junc- 
tion with Washington. A second reinforcement, consisting 
of a part of the northern army, arrived soon after, under 
general GateSj and Washington now mustered about 7000 
regular troops. 

Instead of attempting to cross the Delaware, Howe had 
distributed his troops into winter quarters. His forces were 
a good deal scattered. About 4000 men were cantoned on 
the Delaware, at Trenton, Bordenton and Burlington ; and 
strong corps were posted at Princeton, Brunswick and 
Eiizabethtown. Washington observed the scattered situ- 
ation of the British, and knowing how much the spirits of 
the urmy and of the people had been sunk by the disasters 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 9T 

of the preceding campaign, resolved, if possible, to strike a 
blow, such as might humble the enemy, encourage his own 
troops, and rouse the spirit of the nation. 

On the night of the 25th of December, he crossed the 
Delaware, about nine miles above Trenton, at the head of 

2400 men, and marched down the river in two 
Dec. 26 columns, by two different roads, to attack the 

troops stationed at that place. Both columns ar- 
rived at Trenton, about eight in the morning. They drove 
in the outposts, and pressed forward into the town. Colonel 
Rawle, who commanded there, drew up his men, and pre- 
pared to make a vigorous resistance; but he was killed in 
the beginning of the action, and his troops immediately 
gave over, and attempted to retire by the Princeton 
road. Washington threw a detachment into their rear which 
cut off their retreat ; and finding themselves surrounded, 
they threw down their arms, and surrendered prisoners of 
war. About twenty of the enemy were killed, and 1000 
taken prisoners. Six field-pieces, and a thousand stand of 
arms were also taken. The Americans had two kiiied, two 
frozen to death, and three or four wounded. Their success 
would have been still greater, but the river was so full of ice, 
that two other divisions, which were to have crossed at the 
same time, and attacked the enemy at Bordentown and Bur- 
lington, found it impossible to effect a passage. 

The British, utterly astonished at this mark of vigor in an 
enemy whom they thought reduced to the utmost extremity, 
— broke up their cantonments on the Delaware, and retired 
to Princeton. Washington immediately crossed the river, 
and established himself at Trenton on the eastern bank. 

The British, under Lord Cornwallis, advanced in 
1777 great force upon Trenton ; Washington, retiring 

as they approached, crossed a small stream which 
runs through that town, and drew up his army on the other 
side. The enemy attempted to cross, but finding ail the fords 
guarded, they halted, and kindled their fires. A cannonade 
was kept up on both sides till dark. 

Washington was now in a very delicate situation. If he 
waited till morning he would certainly be attacked, and 
probably defeated; for the forces of the enemy were in all 
respects superior to his own. The Delaware was now 
filled with ice, which rendered the passage of the river so 
9 



AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 



difficult, that he would not probably be able to effect it in 
the face of the enemy, without great loss, or perhaps, a 
total defeat. At any rate, if he retreated, the Jerseys would 
be lost, and Philadelphia endangered. After considering 
the whole subject, he formed the daring plan of marching 
into the rear of the British; attacking their troops at Prince- 
ton ; and then pushing on towards Brunswick, where were 
the magazines and baggage of the British army. This, he 
judged, would be the most effectual way of drawing the 
enemy from Philadelphia. 

As soon as it was dark, the baggage was removed ; and 

about one o'clock, after renewing their fires, and 
Jan. 3 leaving sentinels to go the rounds, as if the army 

was still encamped, the Americans moved silently 
off towards Princeton. Ilaving arrived at that town, they 
found it occupied by three British regiments, whom they 
immediately attacked. One hundred of the enemy were 
killed, and 300 taken; a part forced their way through the 
American line, and escaped to Trenton ; the rest retreated 
to Brunswick. The Americans lost 100 men; general 
Mercer, a valuable officer, was among the slain. 

When the morning came, and Cornwallis found the Ame- 
rican army gone, he instantly suspected Washington's whole 
plan, and became extremely alarmed for his magazines at 
Brunswick. He immediately put his troops in motion, and 
was close upon the rear of the Americans before they could 
leave Princeton. Washington was again in great danger. 
His troops were fatigued and exhausted ; they had all been 
without sleep one night, and some of them longer; they had 
no blankets; many were barefoot, and the whole, very thinly 
clad. Under these circumstances, he gave up his design on 
Brunswick, and retired to Morristown, where he could put 
his troops under cover, and give them some necessary repose. 
Howe concentrated his forces at Brunswick and Amboy, 
and nearly the whole of New Jersey was overrun and held 
by the American militia. The inhabitants had been greatly 
incensed at the outrages everywhere committed by the Brit- 
ish troops, and took every occasion to cut off straggling par- 
ties of the enemy. 

The late successes of the American arms had revived the 
spirits of the people ; and the recruiting service, which be- 
fore was almost at a stand, received a new impulse. Con- 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 99 

gress, during the darkest times, had preserved the same fixed 
and determined spirit ; and now that fortune seemed once 
more to smile on the American cause, every exertion was 
made to rouse the states to vigorous preparation for the next 
campaign. 

There was no one circumstance which caused Washing- 
ton so much perplexity as the short periods for which his 
soldiers were engaged to serve. They were enlisted only 
for a year ; and when the time of their service had expired, 
they left the army without a moment's delay, — sometimes 
whole regiments at once, — and often at seasons of the 
greatest danger and distress. More than once, the army 
was at the point of a total dissolution. Added to this, was 
the great reliance placed on the militia, who were often 
called out for three or six months to supply the place, and 
perform the duties of regular troops, — a service for which 
they were totally unfit. Washington made such earnest re- 
presentations to Congress, and to the individual states, that 
at length it was resolved to enlist troops to serve for three 
years, or during the war. 

Besides its other deficiencies, the army had been almost 
destitute of cavalry, and very ill provided with artillery and 
engineers. But measures were now taken for raising a 
body of horse; and the artillery was increased to three 
regiments, and constituted a brigade, under the command 
of general Knox. A corps of engineers was likewise formed, 
consisting principally of foreign officers, under the command 
of general the chevalier du Portaile. 

While the two armies lay, the one at Morristown, and the 
other at Brunswick, skirmishes were repeatedly taking place 
between advanced parties. Washington's army was, in fact, 
extremely weak. A large part of the old troops had left 
him, their term of service having expired, — and the new levies 
came in very slowly. Bodies of militia joined him from time 
to time; he posted them judiciously, and made the best show 
he could; but after all, he had only the shadow of an army. 
Happily the enemy were ignorant of his real situation ; and 
in the skirmishes which took place, his parties were almost 
always successful. The British quarters were straitened ; 
their supplies were cut off"; and they were reduced to great 
distress for forage and fresh provisions. But the weakness 
of Washington effectually restrained him from any very vig- 
orous operations. 



100 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

Besides the main army encamped at Morristovvn, there 
was a body of American troops, under general M'Dougal, 
stationed at West Point on the Hudson, to guard the passes 
of the highlands. This station was looked upon as of 
great importance; for if the British should gain the com- 
mand of the Hudson, the communication between New 
England and the states further south would be entirely cut 
off. The highland had therefore been carefully fortified, 
and large magazines of provisions and other stores had been 
laid up there, both on account of the strength of the place, 
and the convenience of the situation. The most southern 
post on tlie river, held by the Americans, was Peckskill, 
about fifty miles above New York. Mills had been built 
here, and large stores of flour and provisions collected. 

When the spring opened, general Howe sent a 
March 23 detachment up the river to attack this post, and 

succeeded in destroying stores to a considerable 
amount. 

Another detachment of 2000 men, under general Tryon, 
was soon after sent against Danbury, in Connecticut, where 
was another depot of provisions and stores. The British sailed 
up the sound ; landed between Fairfield and Norwalk ; and 

reached Danbury unmolested. They set fire to 
April 27 the town and magazines, and all was destroyed. 

In the meantime, about 800 militia were collected 
by generals Arnold,* Stilman and Worster, and measures 
were taken to intercept the retreat of the British. They 
were attacked three several times ; once by Worster and 
twice by Arnold ; but they succeeded in repelling the as- 
sailants, and effected their escape. In this expedition the 
British lost 170 men. The loss of the militia was about 
100; Worster and some other valuable oflicers were among 
the slain. 

These incursions of the enemy were soon after retaliated 
by colonel Meigs. He embarked at Guilford, in Connecti- 
cut; crossed the sound; landed on Long Island, and surprised 

a post of the enemy's at Sag Harbor. He killed 
May 23 six of the British, took ninety prisoners, burned 

twelve vessels loaded with forage for the army at 

* Arnold held a command in the regular army, but happened at this 
time to be in Connecticut. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 101 

New York, and returned without the loss of a single 
man. 

Towards the end of May, Washington moved from Mor- 
ristown, and established himself on very strong ground 
at Middlebrook, about ten miles from Princeton. This 
movement was made in order to cover Philadelphia, and at 
the same time keep possession of the Jerseys. He had 
about 10,000 troops, — an army altogether inferior to the 
forces the British could oppose to him ; but he was so 
strongly posted at Middlebrook, that Howe did not dare to 
hazard an attack. After a variety of manoeuvres, of which 
the design was to draw Washington from his camp, and bring 
him to a battle on equal ground, the British general gave up 
the idea of reaching Philadelphia through the Jer- 
June30 seys; and having withdrawn all lus troops into 
Staten island, he prepared to assail that city in an- 
other direction. 

After keeping Washington in a long and perplexing sus- 
pense, Howe sailed from Sandy Hook, with an army of 
18,000 men. Having entered the Chesapeake, he passed up 
that bay, and landed his forces at the head of Elk river. The 
head of Elk is about sixty miles from Philadelphia ; and on 
the 8th of September, the British, in two columns, commenc- 
ed their march for that city. Washington, in the meantime, 
had drawn his troops to the south of the Delaware, and 
now advanced in full force to meet the enemy. Great ex- 
ertions were made to assemble the neighboring militia, 
and they joined the army in considerable numbers. After 
some manoeuvring and several skirmishes, Washington re- 
tired behind the Brandywine, a small creek everywhere 
fordable, — and having drawn up his army awaited the at- 
tack of the enemy. One column, under general Knyphau- 
sen, approached the Brandywine, and threatened to force 
a passage at Chadd's ford ; while the other column, under 
Cornwallis, having made a great circuit and passed the 
creek higher up, marched down upon the American right. 
Washington ordered three of his divisions to oppose Corn- 
wallis ; one was stationed at Chadd's ford to keep Knyp- 
hausen in check ; while Greene's division took a central 
station, ready to act as circumstances might re- 
Sept. 11 quire. As Cornwallis approached, his troop de- 
ployed, and immediately commenced a vigorous 
9* 



102 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

attack. Sullivan's division, on the American right, had but 
just taken their ground, and were in some disorder. The 
action was warm and this division soon began to give way. 
The enemy pressed on ; attacked the other divisions in 
flank, and the American troops continued to break off from 
the right, till the whole line gave way and fled in disorder. 
The action was no sooner begun, than Washington 
marched with Greene's division to support Sullivan ; but 
he only arrived in season to cover the retreat. 

Meanwhile Knyphausen crossed the Brandywine, and 
the defeat of the other divisions being known, the troopg 
opposed to him retired without attempting any resistance. 
The whole army retreated to Chester that night, and next 
day to Philadelphia. In this action, the behavior of the 
troops was by no means uniform. Several of the old regi- 
ments stood their ground with the greatest intrepidity ; 
while others, especially among the new levies, gave way 
at once. The American loss was about nine hundred ; the 
British, five hundred. 

After refreshing his army, Washington again advanced 
upon the British, and a second battle was hourly expected. 
But the armies were separated by a violent storm, which 
damaged the arms and ammunition of the American sol- 
diers, and totally unfitted them for a battle. Washington now 
found himself obliged to retire across the Schuylkill. But 
Wayne's division remained on the other side of the river, 

for the purpose of harassing the enemy ; and 
Sept. 20 lay concealed in the woods on the left of the Brit- , 

ish army. Information was conveyed to the ene- 
my of Wayne's situation ; he was surprised ; defeated with 
the loss of three hundred men ; and obliged to retreat across 
the river. Washington now took post at Pottsgrove, on the 
Schuylkill ; and Howe having crossed the river somewhat 
lower down, placed himself between Philadelphia and the 
American army. 

As the two armies were now situated, nothing but a 
battle and a victory could preserve that city from falling into 
the hands of the British. But all things considered, Wash- 
ington resolved not to risk another battle. He was decid- 
edly inferior in numbers ; his troops had been much fa- 
tigued and harassed by recent marches, and were greatly 
deficient in clothing, and those other supplies so essential 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 103 

to the vigor and spirit of an army. In expectation that 
Philadelphia would be ultimately lost, the magazines and 
public stores had all been removed. Congress adjourn- 
ed to Lancaster ; and on the 25th of September, Howe 
took possession of the city. 

It now became Washington's great object to compel the 
British to evacuate Philadelphia. Fort Mifflin stood just 
below the city, on Mud island, a low, flat bank of mud and 
sand, situated at the confluence of the Schuylkill and the 
Delaware ; and at Red Bank, on the Jersey shore, opposite 
Mud island, was a strong redoubt called fort Mercer, well 
provided with heavy artillery. Both these forts were still 
occupied by the Americans, and obstructions had been sunk 
in the channel between them, consisting of heavy beams 
fastened together, and pointed with iron. At Billingsport, 
further down the river, other obstructions had been sunk j 
and extensive, though unfinished works erected on the 
banks. These obstructions were further defended by seve- 
ral galleys, mounting heavy cannon, two floating batteries, 
and a number of armed vessels, and effectually prevented 
the British ships from coming up to the town. 

Washington's army having been reinforced, and amount- 
ing now to 11,000 men, he left Pottsgrove and approach- 
ed nearer Philadelphia. Lord Cornwallis was in the city 
with four regiments of grenadiers. The rest of the Brit- 
ish troops were encamped at Germantown, on the great road 
to the north, and seven miles nearer the American army. 
Two or three regiments had been sent to Chester, to es- 
cort a convoy of provisions ; and Washington observing the 
scattered situation of the enemy, seized this opportunity to 
attack their camp at Germantown. 

After marching all night, a column under Sullivan 
reached Germantown about sunrise, and imme- 
Oct. 4 diately attacked the left wing of the enemy. 
About half an hour after, another column under 
Greene, reached the ground and attacked the enemy's 
right. Both divisions were at first successful. But two 
other attacks, which were to have been made on the flanks 
and rear of the two wings, failed entirely ; and the British 
having recovered from their first surprise, gave the troops 
in front a warm reception. The morning was extremely 
dark, and the battle ground abounded with strong inclo- 



1^- AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

sures, which everywhere broke the line of the advancing 
troops. The regiments were separated ; some were stop- 
ped early ; others penetrated far into the town. The Brit- 
ish took advantage of this confusion, and pressing hard 
upon the assailants, took many prisoners and compelled the 
Americans to retreat. 

This attack was very well planned, and at first promised 
to be successful. But these hopes were entirely frustra- 
ted by the darkness of the morning, the nature of the 
ground, and the want of discipline and order among the 
troops. The British loss was 500 ; that of the Americans 
near 1200. Of these, 400 were taken prisoners. General 
Nash of North Carolina, was among the slain. 

The attention of both armies was now turned to the 
posts on the river. Washington threw reinforcements into 
forts Mifflin and Mercer ; and the British fleet having ar- 
rived in the Delaware, every exertion was made by the 
enemy to remov'e the obstructions which opposed their 
passage up the stream. The works at Billingsport which 
were guarded only by militia, had been taken and destroy- 
ed ; and after much labor, the channel opposite those works 
was cleared. Batteries had been erected, which played 
upon forts Mifflin and Mercer, and preparations were made 
for a combined attack by land and water. Count Donop with 
1200 men, crossed the Delaware at Philadelphia, and 
marched down the river to attack Red Bank. At the 
same time, several vessels came up the river, as far as the 
remaining obstructions would permit, and commenced a 
furious cannonade on fort Mifflin. Red Bank had a garri- 
son of 500 men, commanded by colonel Green. Green 
abandoned his outworks on the approach of the enemy, and 
. retired into the principal redoubt. Donop then 
Oct. 22 attempted an assault ; but he was received with 
a terrible fire of musketry and grape shot, and 
fell mortally wounded. The assailants retreated, and fa- 
vored by the darkness of the night, escaped into Phila- 
delphia. They lost four hundred in the assault ; the loss 
of the garrison was only thirtytwo. Of the ships which 
attacked fort Mifflin, the Augusta sixtyfour, blew up, the 
Merlin was burnt, and the others retired without effecting 
anything. 

Howe had drawn his army into Philadelphia, and Wash- 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 105 

ington had approached within fifteen miles of the city. 
New supplies were thrown into the forts ; and every means 
that could be devised, provided for their defence. The 
British had possession of Province island, which was sepa- 
rated from Mud island only by a narrow channel ; and 
here they erected extensive batteries which kept up a con- 
tinual fire upon fort Mifflin. The garrison made a most 
gallant defence ; and labored every night to repair the 
breaches made during the day. But this could not last 
long ; the continual fire of the hostile batteries swept away 
their defences ; the enemy's ships had approached within 
one hundred yards of the fort ; and the place was pronounc- 
ed no longer tenable. The garrison u'as accord- 
Nov. 16 ingly withdrawn; Red Bank was evacuated ; and 
the British having removed the obstructions in the 
river, succeeded at last in opening a communication be- 
tween their army and their fleet. 



CHAPTER XI. 



Affairs of the Northern department. — Naval engagement on Lake Cham- 
plain. — Burgoyne invests Ticonderoga. — Ticonderoga evacuated. — 
Action at Hubberton. — Fort Anne evacuated. — St Leger invests fort 
Schuyler. — Defeats Herkimer. — Battle of Bennington. — Siege of 
fort Schuyler raised. — Fiist battle of Stillwater. — Second battle of 
Stillwater. — Fietreat of Burgoyne. — His army capitulates. — Posts at 
the highlands taken by the British. — They evacuate the forts on lalui 
Champlain. — Washington is reinforced. — He goes into winter quar- 
ters at Valley Forge. 

In the meantime, events of great importance had taken 
place further to the north. We have already re- 
1776 lat?d, that early in June, 1776, the northern army 
had been compelled to evacuate Canada. The 
Americans retired to Ticonderoga ; and general Carlton, 
the British commander, who was at Montreal in great 
force, threatened to invade the states by the way of lake 
Champlain. 

The lake was commanded by an American flotilla of 
sixteen vessels, very various in kind and size, which had 



106 



AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 



been equipped with great pains and expense, and en- 
trusted to the care of general Arnold. At the beginning 
of the summer, the British general had not a single 
vessel on the lake ; but by incessant diligence, in little 
more than three months, he equipped five vessels, each 
stronger than the best armed ship of the American flotilla, 
twenty smaller ships, and a number of armed boats. 
The materials for the larger vessels were transported 
a great distance over land ; the smaller ones were obtain- 
ed at Montreal, and had been dragged by main force through 
the Sorel, and over the rapids of St Terese and St John. 
This formidable fleet, navigated by 700 prime seamen, un- 
der the command of an experienced naval officer, was no 
sooner equipped, than it immediately proceeded in quest of 
Arnold. 

Not discouraged by the inferiority of his force, the Amer- 
ican commander had chosen an advantageous position be- 
tween an island and the main laud, where the channel was 
too narrow for all the British vessels to act at once ; and 
here he awaited the attack of the enemy. The engage- 
ment took place on the 11th of October; it lasted several 
hours and was kept up with great spirit on both sides. 
But it was impossible to resist the superior force of the 
British. One of the American vessels was burned and 
another sunk ; and at night Arnold sailed off", in hopes 
to reach Ticonderoga, and to find a shelter -under 
the guns of the fort. But the next day, he was overtaken 
by the British fleet, and brought to action near Crown 
Point. This engagement lasted about two hours ; and in the 
meanwhile, the vessels farthest ahead, pushed on and reached 
Ticonderoga. Arnold was unable to continue the action with 
those that remained ; but determined not to fall into the hands 
of the enemy, he ran his ships on shore and set them on 
fire. The Americans lost eleven vessels ; the British had 
one blown up, and two sunk. About one hundred men 
were lost on either side. The destruction of the American 
fleet leaving the passage open, general Carlton advanced 
down the lake as far as Ticonderoga. This fortress was 
held by an army of more than 8000 men, under generals 
Gates and Schuyler. The season was late; and the British 
commander did not judge it prudent to attack the place. 
Accordingly he returned to Canada, and placed his troops 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 107 

in winter quarters. Soon after the retreat of Carlton, the 
northern army was ahnost entirely dissolved. It had been 
enlisted only for one year, and that year had now expired. 
Several regiments which still continued in the service, 
marched under Gates to join Washington, who was at 
this time hard pressed on the Delaware ; and Ticonderoga 
and the other forts were held by very slender garrisons. 
Thus stood affairs in the north at tl e end of the year 1776. 
The British cabinet had resolved that the war in this 
quarter should be prosecuted with great vigor. 
1777 General Burgoyne, who had been sent from Eng- 
land with additional troops, and had superseded 
Carlton in the command of the northern army, was to de- 
scend the lakes at the head of 10,000 men. He was to 
march upon Albany ; carry the American posts at the 
highlands ; form a junction with the forces in New York; 
and thus cut off the communication between New England 
and the middle states. 

The season was considerably advanced before the Brit- 
ish army was ready to move; but on the 1st of July 
Burgoyne appeared before Ticonderoga. General Schuyler, 
who commanded in the Northern department, had made the 
greatest exertions to prepare for his reception ; but the 
same causes which weakened Washington's army, weak- 
ened his. The enlistments had proceeded slowly, and 
the supplies of arms, clothing and provisions, were very 
scanty. 

In a few days the British had completely invested Ti- 
conderoga ; and general St Clair, the commanding officer, 
saw no chance of saving the garrison, which amounted to 
about 3000 men, except by speedily abandoning 
July 6 the fort. The baggage and stores were put on 
board batteaux, and despatched up South river to 
Skenesborough,* under convoy of five armed galleys, the 
remains of the American flotilla. The garrison marched 
by land for the same place. A rapid pursuit immediately 
commenced. A number of British gun-boats overtook and 
engaged the galleys ; and Skenesborough having been at- 
tacked by three British regiments before the arrival of St 
Clair's troops, the garrison set the works on fire, and re- 

'^ Now Whitehall. 



108 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

tired to fort Anne.* All the baggage of the army, and 
a great quantity of provisions and military stores, were de- 
stroyed, or fell into the hands of the enemy. 

St Clair knew the inferiority of his numbers, and that 
nothing but rapid marching could save him. He arrived 
at Castleton, thirty miles from Ticonderoga, the night after 
the evacuation of the fort.' The rear, consisting of 
about 1200 men, under colonel Warner, halted at Hubber- 
ton, six miles short of that place. The next morning War- 
ner was overtaken and attacked by a British di- 
July 8 vision under general Frazer. At first his troops 
made a stout resistance ; but general Reidesel 
coming up with his division of Germans, the Americans 
gave way and fled in every direction. Two hundred were 
killed, and six hundred wounded, two hundred of whom 
were taken prisoners ; and the division was so entirely dis- 
persed, that when Warner joined St Clair two days after- 
ward, he had with him less than one hundred men. 

Having heard of the loss of Skenesborongh, St Clair 
now retreated upon Rutland ; and at length joined Schuy- 
ler at fort Edward, on the Hudson. The troops which had 
retired from Skenesborongh had been ordered to defend 
fort Anne ; but as soon as it was attacked, colonel Long, 
the commandant, had set fire to the works and retreated to 
fort Edward,! where all the American forces were now 
concentrated. Burgoyne halted awhile at Skenesborongh 
to collect and refresh his troops; his stores and artillery 
were brought up ; and preparations were made for marching 
upon Albany. 

The country between Skenesborongh and fort Edward 
was, at this time, almost entirely unsettled. It was covered 
with thick wood ; its surface was extremely rough ; and it was 
everywhere intersected by creeks and morasses. While 
Burgoyne waited at Skenesborongh, Schuyler improved 
every moment in breaking up bridges and rendering the 
roads impassable. Trees were cut in immense numbers 
so as to fall in layers across the roads, their boughs inter- 
locking ; and the intervening country was swept clear cf 

* Fort Anne was at the head of the boat navigation on Wood Creek, 
a tributary of the South River, which is the name given to the south- 
ern extremity of Lalce Champlain. 

t Near the present situation of Sandy Hill. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 109 

cattle and provisions. Reinforcements of regular troops 
were strongly solicited ; and the militia of New England 
and New York were called upon to give their aid at this 
alarming crisis. The progress of Burgoyne, so rapid and 
unexpected, had spread everywhere the greatest alarm ; 
and strenuous exertions were made to reinforce the Northern 
army. General Lincoln was ordered to march at the head 
of the New England militia; Arnold, whose daring bravery 
had always been so conspicuous, was sent to reanimate 
the troops; and Morgan, with his famous rifle corps, 
was detached by Washington to the assistance of Schuyler. 
The advance from Skenesborough cost the British army 

infinite labor and fatigue. But at length they 
July 30 forced their way to fort Edward; and as Schuyler, 

with all his exertions, had collected only about 
4400 men, he was unable to maintain that place against 
them. He retired across the Hudson to Saratoga, and from 
thence to Stillwater, a short distance above the mouth of the 
Mohawk. 

In the meantime, colonel St Leger, with about 1100 
men, consisting of Canadians, a few regulars, and a large 
body of Indians, had proceeded from Montreal up the St 
Lawrence to lake Erie. He coasted along the lake, landed 
his men at Oswego, and having marched across the country, 
— then a complete wilderness, — laid siege to fort Schuyler 
near the head of the Mohawk. His design was, after taking 
that fort, to press forward and join the army under Burgoyne. 
General Herkimer assembled the militia of Tryon county, 

and attempted to raise the siege. But he fell into 
Aug. 6 an ambuscade, and was defeated with a loss of 

more than 400 men. 
When the news that this fort was besieged reached the 
American camp, Schuyler sent three regiments under the 
command of Arnold to raise the siege; and then withdrew 
the rest of his army, which was much weakened by this de- 
tachment, into the islands at the confluence of the Hudson 
and Mohawk — a station which he judged more defensible 
than the camp at Stillwater. Burgoyne, meanwhile, was 
busily employed in transporting boats, stores and provisions 
from lake George to the Hudson. The distance was only 
eighteen miles ; but the roads were so extremely bad, and 
it was so difficult to obtain a sufficient number of horses and 
10 



110 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

oxen, that by the 15th of August, he had brought over 
only twelve batteaux, and provisions for the army for four 
days in advance. Though desirous of advancing with all 
expedition upon Albany, Burgoyne was unwilling to move 
with so small a stock of provisions. The transportation 
from lake George was tedious and slow ; and some new 
means must be devised of increasing his store. The Ame- 
ricans had a large depot of corn, cattle and carriages at 
Bennington, a town of the New Hampshire grants,* about 
twentyfour miles east of the Hudson. These stores were 
guarded by a body of militia, varying in numbers from day 
to day; and if he could succeed in seizing them, the march 
to Albany might be immediately commenced. 

Colonel Baum, with 600 men, principally Germans, was 
sent on this service. It happened that general Stark, with 
the New Hampshire militia, had just arrived at Bennington; 
and his troops, joined to those on duty there, made a body 
of 1600 men. When Baum approached the town, and 
learned the superiority of the Americans, he immediately 
began to entrench himself, and sent back for reinforcements. 
Colonel Breyman, with 500 Germans, was ordered to his 

support. But before this reinforcement could 
Aug. 16 come up, Baum was attacked in his entrenchments, 

and totally routed. Breyman arrived soon after, 
and the battle was renewed; but when night came on, he aban- 
doned his artillery and baggage, and escaped under cover of 
the darkness. Besides the men who were killed in the ac- 
tion, the Americans took near 600 prisoners. A thousand 
stand of arms and 900 swords, the spoils of the field, fur- 
nished a seasonable supply for the militia, who were now 
coming in from all quarters. 

About the same time, St Leger abandoned the siego of 
fort Schuyler, and returned to Montreal. On the approach 
of Arnold he retired with great precipitation ; his tents were 
left standing, and a large part of his baggage and stores fell 
into the hands of the Americans. These successes revived 
the spirits of the people; and a universal indignation was 
excited by the barbarities perpetrated by the Indians, who 
attended the armies of St Leger and Burgoyne. The militia 
assembled in great numbers ; and the regular troops which 

* Now Vermont. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. Ill 

had been ordered to join the northern army, had now arrived. 
Schuyler, notwithstanding his great merits and unremitting 
exertions, had fallen under the displeasure of Congress, and 
being very unpopular among the eastern troops, he was su- 
perseded, and the chief command of the northern army was 
transferred to general Gates. 

Burgoyne still persevered in his design upon Albany, and 
having with the greatest labor collected provisions for thirty 
days in advance, he threw a bridge of boats over the Hudson, 
and crossing that river, took post at Saratoga. Gates left 
his camp in the islands, and marched up the river as far as 
Stillwater ; while the British, having repaired the roads and 
bridges between the two armies, advanced slowly down the 
river. On the 19th of September, they attacked the right 
wing of the Americans, and a sharp action ensued, which 
lasted four hours. The battle began in a skirmish be- 
tween two advanced parties; but as the engagement grew 
warmer, reinforcements were sent out from either army, till 
the action became quite general. At dark the Americans 
retired to their camp. The British slept on their arms; but 
the next morning they did not renew the action. They had 
lost over 600 men, while the loss of the Americans did not 
much exceed 300. Finding himself unable to force the 
American camp, Burgoyne began to entrench his army. 
His difficulties increased every moment. The Indians and 
Canadians deserted in great numbers; provisions grew 
scarce ; his forage was exhausted, and his horses were 
perishing for want of food. On the other hand, the army 
of Gates was continually increasing. The battle of Still- 
water was celebrated as a great victory, and the harvest 
being over, the militia willingly assembled to complete the 
overthrow of their formidable adversary. 

The armies lay facing each other till the 7th of October, 
when Burgoyne, who suffered severely for want of provisions, 
resolved to try the event of another battle. With this de- 
sign, he drew out 1600 men with six field pieces, and threat- 
ened an attack on the American left. Gates no sooner 
perceived this movement, than he resolved to assault the left 
of the British. The attack was made with great spirit, and 
soon extended along the whole line. Arnold rushed upon 
the Brhish right with the greatest gallantry ; and pressing 
hard upon it, captured the artillery, and drove the troops 



112 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

into their camp. The Americans followed close in the rear, 
and under a tremendous fire of musketry and grape, as- 
saulted the works througliout their whole extent. Towards 
night, Arnold forced the entrenchments, and entered the 
works, followed by a few of his men; but his horse was 
kdled under him, and his party was soon forced back. Fur- 
ther to the right, colonel Brooks was more successful. At 
the head of Jackson's regiment of Massachusetts, he stormed 
the entrenchments; killed colonel Breyman, who command- 
ed in that part of the line; and at night, remained in pos- 
session of tiie ground he had gained. Besides killing many 
of the enemy, and among the rest general Frazer, one of 
their best officers, the Americans had taken 200 prisoners. 
They had also captured nine pieces of artillery, and the en- 
campment of a German brigade, with all its equipage. 
Their own loss was inconsiderable. 

At night, Burgoyne drew oft' his army, and the next day 
continued his retreat to Saratoga. He left behind him his 
hospital, with about 300 sick; and during his retreat, several 
batteaux laden with baggage fell i'nto the hands of the Ameri- 
cans. Having arrived at Saratoo-a, he sent forward a company 
of artificers, under a strong escort, to repair the roads and 
bridges towards fort Edward. But they found the heights oc- 
cupied, and the roads guarded by American troops; 
Oct. 10 and were obliged to fall back on the main body. 
The British were now nearly surrounded ; only three 
days' provision, even on short allowance, remained in store; 
the troops were discouraged and fatigued ; and were watched 
by a hostile army far superior in numbers. Several plans 
were proposed for a rapid retreat, but they all proved im- 
practicable ; and Burgoyne was reduced to the necessity of 
capitulating. The terms he obtained were very favorable. 
His troops were to march out of their camp with the honors 
of war, and having laid down their arms, were to 
Oct. 16 be sent to England, under condition of not serving 
against the United States, till exchanged. Their 
baggage, arms, artillery, and camp equipage became the 
property of the conquerors. 

The successes of the British on the Hudson contributed, 
it is likely, to the favorableness of these terms. Sir Henry 
Clinton, with 3000 men, had sailed up that river; taken 
forts Montgomery, Clinton, Constitution and Independence, 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



113 



by which the Highlands were guarded; destroyed a great 
quantity of stores, and advanced north as far as Esopus. The 
British, however, in the present state of their affairs, were 
unable to hold these conquests, and having destroyed every- 
thing they could, they returned to New York. 

After the surrender of Burgoyne, the British gave up 
all hopes of holding the forts on Lake Champlain. Ac- 
cordingly they set fire to the works and buildings, and 
having destroyed such stores as they could not remove, 
retired hastily to Canada. The militia of the northern 
army returned to their homes. Several of the continental 
regiments were detained at Albany, and the rest marched 
off to join Washington, who was then lying before Phila- 
delphia. But these reinforcements did not reach him, till 
the British had gained the command of the Delaware, and 
opened a commnnication between their army and their 
ships. 

Washington remained for some time encamped at White 
Marsh; but at length he retired into winter quarters at 
Valley Forge. This was a piece of high and strong 
ground on the south side of the Schuylkill, about twenty- 
five miles from Philadelphia. Log huts were built to shel- 
ter the soldiers ; but in every other respect the forms of a 
regular encampment were preserved. This method of 
passing the winter was chosen, as the only one which 
could secure the neighboring country from the inroads of 
the enemy, and at the same time protect the army from 
the danger of being cut off by detachments. From Val- 
ley Forge, on both sides, round to the Delaware, bodies 
of troops and parties of militia were stationed at different 
places, in such a manner as to cut off the communication 
between Philadelphia and the country. 



10* 



114 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 



CHAPTER XII. 



Retrospect. — The Stales. — Congress. — The Confederation. — Paper 
Money. — The Loyalists. — Indian affairs. — Story of Miss M'Crea. — 
Treatment of prisoners. — Maritime exertions. — Wants and sufferings 
of the army. — Combination against general Washington. — Alliance 
with France. — Lord North's attempt at reconciliation. 

It is now time to glance backward, and take a curso- 
ry view of some important and interesting particulars, 
which the detail of military events has hitherto prevented 
us from noticing. 

As soon as the breaking out of the war had put an end 
to the authority of the royal government, the several col- 
onies became each an independent state, and exercised, 
each for itself, all the attributes of sovereignty. Congress, 
though looked up to as the head of the American states, 
had in fact, no solid authority. It had only a recommen- 
datory power. Tt could call on the several states for their 
quotas of men and money ; but the whole matter was to 
be discussed over again in the state assemblies ; and it de- 
pended on them whether the requisitions should be com- 
plied with or not. After much debate. Congress agreed 
(Nov. 15th, 1777) upon cexidAW Articles of confederation, 
by which the several states entered into a firm and per- 
petual league, for mutual defence, and the promotion of 
the general welfare. By these articles, the power of peace 
and war, of forming treaties, of sending and receiving 
ambassadors, of establishing admiralty courts, and some 
others were vested in congress. But the original defect re- 
mained. According to these articles, congress could only 
recommend ; it had no power conferred upon it to enforce 
what it recommended.^ 

The articles of confederation were afterwards ratified 
by the states, and were for several years the only bond of 
union between them. While the war lasted, this confed- 
eration, imperfect as it was, answered tolerably well ; though 
already its defects began to appear. At first, the requi- 
sitions of congress were received with enthusiasm, and 
obeyed with alacrity; but as the first ardor died away. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



115 



when the war became more pressing, and the requisitions 
more frequent, they were heard with reluctance, and in 
many of the states, but partially and scantily complied 
with. 

The war could not be carried on without money ; but it 
was some time before congress ventured upon laying a 
tax: They found a resource in issuing bills of credit, — 
a practice which had been frequent in the colonies before 
the revolution, — for which they pledged the faith of the 
states, and which, at first had equal currency with gold and 
silver. The states in their individual capacity, each exercis- 
ed this same prerogative of issuing bills of credit ; and in a 
short time, the quantity of paper money in circulation be- 
came very great. An alarming depreciation was the con- 
sequence ; and notwithstanding all the laws that were pass- 
ed, branding as enemies to their country, all who refused 
to receive the paper as of equal value with gold and silver, 
the depreciation still continued. Various means were 
proposed and resorted to for curing this evil. The only effec- 
tual remedy was, to diminish the issue of paper money. But 
the application of this remedy produced an alarming de- 
ficiency in the public treasury. To supply the deficit, thus 
created, loan oflices were opened, and several millions 
were borrowed on the credit of the United States. Taxes 
were afterward imposed ; but they were paid slowly and re- 
luctantly ; and new issues of paper money still continued 
the great resource for carrying on the war. 

Some revenue was derived from the sale of confiscated es- 
tates. In all the colonies there were numbers who still re- 
mained attached to Great Britain, and wholly averse to the 
war of independence. Many of them left the country of 
their own accord ; others were banished, and their estates 
confiscated and sold. In New England, Virginia and 
South Carolina, the people were firmly united in support 
of the war, and the number of disaffected was very small. 
But in the middle states and in North Carolina, the num- 
ber of those opposed to the war was so great, as on many 
occasions completely to paralyze the exertions of the state 
governments ; and insurrections occasionally took place, 
which were only suppressed by force of arms. 

Besides the enemies in their own bosom, and the armies 
sent from abroad, the states had another dangerous foe to 



116 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

encounter. When the war with Great Britain began, great 
pains were taken to secure and preserve the neutrality of 
the Indians. The tribes chiefly to be dreaded, were the 
Six Nations in New York and Pennsylvania, and the Creeks 
and Cherokees in Georgia and the Carolinas. General 
Schuyler possessed great influence among the Six Nations, 
and by his exertions a treaty was made with them. But 
the influence of Sir John Johnson, the British agent, was 
still greater than Sclmyler's ; and when Burgoyne invaded 
New York, the Six Nations were easily persuaded to join 
his army, and while with him, were guilty of such outra- 
ges as raised the indignation of the whole country. The 
murder of Miss M'Crea formed an affecting story, of 
which great use was made to inflame the people, and excite 
them to the utmost efforts against Burgoyne. Miss 
M'Crea's family were loyalists, and she herself was en- 
gaged to marry a loyalist oflicer, who held at this very 
time, a commission in the British army. She was dressed 
to receive her lover, and was waiting with fond expecta- 
tion ; when a party of Indians burst into the house, car- 
ried off the Vv'hole family into the woods, and murdered, 
scalped and mangled them, in a most horrid manner. 

The Creeks and Cherokees .were easily stimulated by 
the persuasions and presents of British agents to fall 
on the settlements in their neighborhood. About the time 
that Charleston was bombarded by Sir Peter Parker, the 
Cherokees attacked the back settlements of Virginia and 
Carolmas. But several regular regiments having been 
sent against them, and the backwoodsmen embodying for 
their own defence, the Indians were at length subdued. 
From time to time, during the war, they renewed their 
hostilities ; but they were uniformly defeated and compelled 
to sue for peace. 

The peculiar nature of the revolutionary war gave rise 
to some difficulties respecting the exchange of prisoners. 
At first, the British officers inclined to consider the Ameri- 
cans as merely rebels, not entitled to the usual courtesies 
of war. The prisoners who fell into their hands were treated 
with great severity. They were confined in common jails like 
felons or state criminals. Washington remonstrated against 
this conduct, and when remonstrances had no effect, ordered 
it to be retaliated on the British prisoners. Both sideisi 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 117 

were soon tired of this useless severity, and at length an 
exchange of prisoners was agreed on. But those Ameri- 
cans who remained in the hands of the Brisish, still com- 
plained of harsh treatment; new difficulties arose, and the 
subject continued through the whole war, a matter of much 
perplexity, and a source of continual trouble and disquiet. 

While every effort was made to carry on the war by land, 
maritime affairs were not entirely neglected. As early as 
the IStli of December, 1775, Congress resolved to equip 
thirteen armed vessels, each to carry from thirtytwo to 
twentyfour guns. This v.'as the foundation of the American 
navy. Great numbers of privateers were fitted out in the 
ports of New England, which cruised against the British 
commerce with the greatest success. Not only was the 
country, at the beginning of the war, very ill provided with 
ammunition and military stores, but the effect of the non- 
importation agreements, by which the war had been preceded, 
was severely felt in a way which had not been anticipated. 
These agreements had been entered into with the best in- 
tentions, and their immediate operation was no doubt bene- 
ficial; but their ultimate effect was, to leave the country at 
the beginning of the war, extremely destitute of cloths, 
blankets, and other manufactured articles. The want of 
these commodities, though greatest in the army, extended to 
the citizens in general, and was very severely felt. But a great 
resource was found in the captures made at sea. The prizes 
taken by the American cruisers during the year 1776, were 
valued at five millions of dollars, and the supplies thus fur- 
nished to the army and the country, were of the greatest 
importance. 

Yet notwithstanding these supplies, and the untiring ex- 
ertions of Congress to equip and clothe the army, the state 
of the troops was wretched in the extreme. They made long 
marches through ice and snow, barefoot and half naked; 
while the inferiority of their arms gave the enemy a great 
advantage in every encounter. Nothing but the firm pru- 
dence and indomitable spirit of Washington, joined to un- 
common fortitude and courage on the part of the men, had 
enabled the American army to keep the field during two 
campaigns against a superior British force; and in the midst 
of complicated sufferings, to fight so many battles, if not 
always with brilliant success, yet without sustaining any in» 



118 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

curable defeat. But what the American troops suffered in 
the field, fell far short of the miseries they endured at their 
winter quarters. And no martial achievements can, for a 
moment, be compared with the noble and devoted patriot- 
ism that kept them together, and carried them through 
the gloomy winter they spent at Valley Forge. 

On more than one occasion there was an absolute famine 
in the camp. The commissary department failed entirely ; 
and Washington could subsist his army only by seizing the 
corn and provisions of the surrounding farmers. He did 
not resort to this harsh measure without the greatest re- 
luctance; but Congress declared they could give him no as- 
sistance; the army must be subsisted; and this was his only 
resource. Nakedness was added to famine. The want of 
shoes, stockings, and other necessary clothing, rendered a 
large part of the army unfiit for duty; and blankets were a 
luxury which very few enjoyed. Cold and improper food 
brought on a great degree of sickness ; but the hospitals 
were so ill furnished, that of those who entered them, many 
died and few recovered. Washington left no means untried; 
he addressed Congress ; he addressed the states ; he painted 
in vivid colors the extremity of distress to which his army 
was reduced. His representations were not without effect. 
Great exertions were made to relieve the soldiers, and the 
object, at last, was in a good measure accomplished. 

While Washington was straining every nerve to keep the 
army together, a combination was secretly formed to remove 
him from the chief command. This combination consisted 
of several members of Congress, and a few officers in the 
army, — among others. Gates, Mifflin and Conway; but its 
history has been kept in the back-ground, and is rather ob- 
scure. Many slanderous reports were spread against 
the character of Washington, and some complaints were 
exhibited against him in Congress. But the confidence 
which the army and the people reposed in the commander 
in chief, was too strong to be shaken. The idea of depriv- 
ing him of command was everywhere received with indigna- 
tion ; and the conspiracy soon sunk into merited obscurity. 

Meanwhile, the firm resistance of the states, and espe- 
cially the splendid achievement of capturing a whole British 
army, began to produce an effect in Europe. Soon after 
the declaration of Independence, Congress had sent Dr 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 119 

Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee, commissioners to 
France, in the hope of obtaining some assistance from that 
powerful state. France and England had long been ene- 
mies; and each had watched and improved every opportu- 
nity of humbling the other. The king of France observed 
with pleasure the resistance of the colonies ; but his finances 
were in a state of much disorder, and he was unwilling to 
involve himself in the war, while its event was yet doubtful. 
Supplies were secretly furnished to a considerable amount; 
and the commissioners, though publicly discountenanced, 
were privately encouraged. Their prospects varied from 
time to time, according to the complexion of American af- 
fairs. But the vigor displayed in the capture of Burgoyne, 
fixed the hesitating politics of the French court. On the 
6th February, 1778, Louis XVL acknowledged the indepen- 
dence of the United States, and formed with them treaties 
of commerce and alliance. These treaties were tlie signal 
of a war between France and England. They reached 
America in May, where they were received with enthusiastic 
delight, and immediately ratified. In the course of the 
summer, M. Gerard arrived in the United States, as minister 
plenipotentiary from the French king; and in September, 
Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin, minister to the 
court of France. 

It was not in France only that the success of the American 
arms was felt. Lord North, the British minister, began to 
fear that it would not be possible to drive the colonies into 
submission. Accordingly, he introduced into parliament a 
plan of reconciliation. Commissioners with ample powers 
were appointed ; and terms were offered, such as would have 
been most gladly accepted at the beginning of the war. 
But the progress of the contest had exasperated the spirits, 
and raised the demands of the Americans. Nothing would 
now satisfy them but an acknowledgment of their indepen- 
dence. The commissioners left no stone unturned ; they 
even went so far as to attempt bribing members of Congress. 
Ten thousand pounds, and the best office in America in the 
gift of the crown, were offered to Mr Reed, a member from 
Pennsylvania, if he would bring about a reconciliation. His 
answer is worthy of being recorded. * I am not worth pur- 
chasing,' he said, ' but such as I am, the king of England is 
not rich enough to buy me.' 



130 AN ABRIDGEP HISTORY 



CHAPTER XIII 



The British evacuate Philadelphia. — A French fleet arrives. — Battle of 
Rhode Island. — Skirmishes. — Destruction of Wyoming. — Theatre 
of war transferr^ to the South. — Savannah taken by the British. — 
Georgia submits. — Lincoln takes command of the Southern army. — 
Insurrection of the Loyalists. — Engagement at Briar's Creek. — Charles- 
ton besieged. — Engagement at Stono Ferry. — Atfaiis of the North. — 
Sulhvan's expedition against the Six Nations. — Arrival of a French 
fleet. — Siege of Savannah. — Spain takes part in the war. 

The spring of 1778, found the British army still occupy- 
ing Philadelphia, and Washington encamped at 
1778 Valley Forge. There were occasional skirmishes 
between detached parties; but no movements of 
much consequence took place, till Sir Williim Howe re- 
signed his command. It was expected that France would 
now take an active part in the war, and Philadelphia was 
regarded as an unsafe station for the British army. Accord- 
ingly, Sir Henry Clinton, the successor of Howe, received 
orders to evacuate that city, and to concentrate his forces 
at New York. 

Clinton left Philadelphia on the ISth of June ; and having 
crossed the Delaware, he continued his march through the 
Jerseys, taking the lower road, towards Sandy Hook, where 
he had determined to embark his army. The British had 
no sooner left Philadelphia than Washington corn- 
June 28 menced a pursuit. He came up with the enemy 
not far from Monmouth court-house, where a se- 
vere but indecisive action took place. The American troops 
slept on their arms, expecting to renew the attack the next 
morning. But at midnight, the British marched off in per- 
fect silence, and soon reached the high ground about Mid- 
dleton, where it was impossible to attack them with any pros- 
pect of success. The American loss in the battle of Monmouth 
was 280; that of the British 358. During the march through 
the Jerseys, 100 of the enemy were taken prisoners, and near 
1000 deserted. These deserters were principally Germans, 
who had married in Philadelphia, and learned to prefer the 
sweetsofmatrimony,tothe toils of war. Having reached Sandy 
Hook, Clinton transported his army, by water, to New York. 
Washinoton continued his march towards the Hudson. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 121 

In the meantime, the count D'Estaing arrived off the 
coast of Virginia, with a French fleet, consisting of twenty 
ships of the line and six frigates, having on board 4000 sol- 
diers. After considerable delay, and frequent consultations 
between Washington and the French admiral, an attack on 
Rhode island * was finally agreed upon. This island had 
been in possession of the British ever since the American 
army evacuated New York. It proved a convenient station 
for harassing the neighboring continent, and obtaining sup- 
plies for the British garrison in that city. The troops on 
the island had lately been reinforced, and now amounted to 
6000 men, under the command of general Pigott. These 
troops lay principally at Newport. As it was necessary to 
make a combined attack by sea and land, several continen- 
tal regiments were detached for this service; the New 
England states were called on for their quotasof militia; and an 
army of 10,000 men, under the command of general Sullivan, 
was assembled at Providence. D'Estaing had arrived be- 
fore Newport, and a plan of attack was concerted 
Aug. 9 between him and Sullivan. The army embarked, 
and had landed on the northern end of the island, 
when Lord Howe, with a British fleet, appeared in sight. 
D'Estaing immediately weighed anchor, and put to sea with 
the purpose of bringing on a naval engagement. Both fleets 
were soon out of sight. After manoeuvring two days with- 
out coming to action, they were separated by a violent storm. 
D'Estaing returned to Newport, but much to the disappoint- 
ment of Sullivan, who had before had some misunderstanding 
with the admiral on points of etiquette, he soon after sail- 
ed for Boston, — compelled to do so, as he asserted, by the 
necessity of refitting his ships. 

Sullivan had already formed the siege of Newport ; but 
the militia were discouraged by the departure of the fleet, 
and deserted in such numbers that the army was soon re- 
duced to 5000 men. It was now necessary to raise the 
siege. On the night of the 26th, the troops left their works 
before Nev/port, and retired silently towards the northern 
end of the island. They were pursued by the Brilish and 
attacked the next morning, when a sharp contest ensued. 

* Not the state, but the island in Narraganset bay, from which the 
state derives its name. 

u 



122 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

The Americans kept their ground, and the next day the 
enemy showed no disposition to renew the attack. They 
had lost 269 men ; the American loss was 211. The British 
waited for a reinforcement, which they expected from New 
York ; but the day before it arrived, Sullivan 
Aug. 31 passed over with such secrecy and expedition to 
the main land, that the island was wholly evacuated 
before the enemy had any suspicions of his movements. 

The rest of the summer passed without any important 
operations. One or two American detachments were sur- 
prised and cut to pieces. The British plundered New Bed- 
ford, Fair Haven and Little Egg Harbor ; but these maraud- 
ing expeditions, however severe upon the individual suf- 
ferers, had no public results. 

Meanwhile an Indian war raged on the frontiers of Penn- 
sylvania and Virginia, attended with all and more than all 
its usual atrocities. The scene of the greatest desolation 
was Wyoming, a tract of country on both sides of the 
Susquehanna, which had been settled by emigrants from 
Connecticut, and contained at this time over a thousand 
families. The people of Wyoming entered zealously into 
the war of independence, and are said to have furnished a 
thousand soldiers for the continental army. Still, there 
were some among them disinclined to the cause. These 
disaffected persons, complained of the severities, which, 
as they said, were exercised against the loyalists, and fled for 
refuge to the neighboring tribes of the Six Nations. Their 
number gradually increased ; and inflamed with all the fury 
of civil discord, they formed the design of attacking the 
settlement, and cutting off the inhabitants. On the 1st of 
July, a body of 1600 men, partly Indians and partly refu- 
gee loyalists, broke into Wyoming. The inhabitants had 
taken the alarm and retired into their forts. Tlie chief 
force of the colony, to the number of 400 men, had as- 
sembled in Kingston, their principal town. They were 
induced to march out, under pretence of a parley ; and 
having been enticed to a distance, they were surrounded, 
attacked , and put to the sword. The forts were then 
besieged and taken. The men were cut to pieces ; and 
the women, and children perished amid the flames of 
their blazing houses. The whole settlement was rav- 
aged and laid waste ; the fruit trees even, w^ere rooted 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 12^ 

Up ; the cattle were killed, and every living thing de- 
stroyed. All was ruined, except the plantation of the loy- 
alists, which rose like islands in the midst of surrounding 
desolation. 

Not satisfied with his success in the northern states, 
the British general now resolved to try his fortune 
further south. During the remainder of the war, the 
southern states were the principal theatre of action ; and 
the fate of immense and fertile regions was decided by 
armies consisting of only a few regiments, and by engage- 
ments, which in the annals of European warfare, would 
scarcely be deemed worthy of a place in history. It 
ought always, however to be recollected that the im- 
portance of events depends not so much on their absolute 
magnitude, as on the consequences they involve, and the 
vigor and spirit they display. Viewed in this light, the 
incidents of the southern campaigns are worthy of very 
particular attention. 

Towards the end of the year, colonel Campbell, with 
an army of 2000 men sailed from New York, and landed 
on the coast of Georgia. General Howe commanded at Sa- 
vannah ; but his whole army consisted of only 600 conti- 
nentals and as many militia. He posted his forces before 
the town, with one wing resting on the river Savannah, 
and with a deep morass in his front. This morass he sup- 
posed impassable except by a single road j but Campbell 
was informed by a negro of a private path, and having 
thrown a body of men into the rear of Howe's arniy, he at- 
tacked his front at the same time, and totally 
Dec. 29 routed him. Inconsequence of this victory, Sa- 
vannah with 450 soldiers, the forts, artillery, the 
shipping in the river, and a large quantity of provisions, 
fell into the hands of the enemy. In the meantime, general 
Prevost, who commanded the British forces in Florida, had 
invaded the southern part of Georgia. He took the fort at 
Sunbury, and marched on to Savannah, where he united his 
troops to those of colonel Campbell, and assumed the chief 
command. Campbell was sent against Augusta, which sur- 
rendered without resistance. In a short time the whole of 
Georgia had submitted to the British, and they began to 
meditate the invasion of South Carolina. 

In the meantime, general Lincoln had been ordered to 



124 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

take the command of the southern army. He repaired to 
Charleston, where he found the military affairs in a condition 
of total derangement. But the state authorities of Carolina 
made great exertions to assist him, and he was 
1779 soon able to take the field with an army of 3600 

men. Lincoln resolved to confine himself to a de- 
fensive warfare; and with this design he stationed his forces 
along the northern bank of the Savannah, This river forms 
an excellent line of defence. Its channel is narrow ; but for 
a great distance it flows through a marshy country, which is 
often overflowed to the width of three or four miles, and is only 
crossed by a few narrow causeways, which are often wholly 
impassable for an army. Not daring to attempt the passage 
of the Savannah, Prevost endeavored to penetrate into 
South Carolina by way of the sea coast, A detachment was 
sent to get possession of Port Royal ; but they were attacked 
by general Moultrie, and repulsed with considerable loss. 

In the back settlements of the Carolinas, there had al- 
ways been a large number of loyalists. Encouraged by the 
British successes in Georgia, they assembled in considerable 
numbers, and marched to join the British standard at Au- 
gusta. But they were attacked by a body of the neighbor- 
ing militia, and totally defeated. Many were taken prison- 
ers, and tried for treason. Seventy were found guilty, and 
condemned to die; but only five, the most notorious offend- 
ers, were actually executed. 

Lincoln's army having received considerable reinforce- 
ments, he now resolved to resume the off'ensive, and ordered 
general Ash, with 1500 men, to cross the Savannah, and 
take post at Briar's creek. This station was thought to be 
unassailable, but Prevost succeeded in gaining 
March 3 Ash's rear; attacked him with great spirit ; dis- 
persed his troops ; and took over 300 prisoners. 
This victory, gave the British quiet possession of Geor- 
gia, and Prevost issued a proclamation re-establishing the 
ancient form of government. 

South Carolina exerted itself to the utmost; and Lincoln's 
army being again reinforced, he marched towards Augusta, 
with the design of recovering the upper part of Georgia. 
Charleston was left with a very slender garrison, and Pre- 
vost improved this opportunity to cross the Savannah, with the 
design of laying siege to the capital of South Carolina. The 



OF THE 



tIhted states. 125 



fortifications of Charleston were nearly all towards the sea; 
the land side was very insufficiently defended. But instead 
of pressing forward, at once, Prevost, after crossing the 
Savannah, delayed his march for two or three days, and 
during that interval, the most strenuous exertions were made 
to put the city in a defensible state. The British were not 
strongenoughtocarry the works by assault; and Lincoln, who 
had been apprised of the danger of Charleston, was march- 
ing to its relief Unwilling to encounter him, Prevost drew 
his army into the island of St Johns, a few miles to the 
south of Charleston harbor, where he awaited the arrival of 
his ships. 

The British still held a post at Stono ferry, on the main 
land, opposite the island of St Johns, and here 
June 20 they were attacked by Lincoln. But he was re- 
pulsed with a loss of near 200 men. The heat 
now became too oppressive for active service; and Prevost 
withdrew his troops through the islands to Savannah, while 
Lincoln took post near Beaufort. 

The movements of the British armies further north, were 
rather excursions for plunder than military operations. 
Virginia was invaded by 2000 men, under general Matthews, 
who destroyed large quantities of stores at Ports- 
May mouth, Norfolk, and several other places, and 
ravaged the country on the banks of the rivers. 
The coast of Connecticut was visited by a fleet and army, 
under general Tryon ; and New Haven, Fairfield and Nor- 
walk were plundered and burned. 

In the meantime, the Americans were not wholly inactive. 
The British post at Stony Point, on the Hudson, was taken 
by storm, and 600 of the enemy killed or taken prisoners; 
and soon after, the post at Paulus Hook was surprised by 
major Lee, of the cavalry, thirty of the enemy killed, and 
159 taken prisoners. 

The Six Nations still continued their hostilities, and Sul- 
livan was sent with a strong detachment to carry the war 
into the Indian country. He marched up the west branch 
of the Susquehanna, and having advanced a considerable 
distance into the Indian territory, he found the enemy, to 
the number of 1000 men, strongly posted, and defended by 
considerable entrenchments. They stood the attack of the 
American army for two hours; but at length fled in great 
11* 



4te 
126 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

confusion. Sullivan advanced into the heart of their coun- 
try, and laid it waste in every direction. 

In the meantime, the count D'Estaing arrived from the 
West India, and appeared on the coast of Georgia, with a 
fleet of twentytwo ships of the line and eleven frigates, 
having on board 6000 troops. A vessel was sent to Charles- 
ton to inform Lincoln of his arrival, and a plan was concert- 
ed between them for laying siege to Savannah. A body of 
French troops was landed ; Lincoln marched with 
Sept. 23 his own forces ; and the siege of the city was reg- 
ularly formed. In a short time, the lines of the 
besiegers were far advanced, and a few days would have 
insured the surrender of the place. But D'Estaing was 
anxious to return to the West Indies; he declared that he 
could wait no longer, and that the siege must be raised, or 
else the town taken by storm. Lincoln, unv.illing to lose 
the prey already in his grasp, resolved to attempt an assault. 
The attack was made in three columns, and the assailants 
succeeded in carrying a part of the works; but in 
Oct. 9 the end, they were repulsed with great slaughter. 
The loss of the garrison was only 55; but the besieg- 
ers lost 1000 men. Count Pulaski, a noble Pole, who early 
entered the American army, and served in it with zeal and 
courage, fell in this unfortunate assault. D'Estaing sailed 
for the West Indies ; and Lincoln, with his shattered forces, 
returned to Charleston. 

Some time previous to this attack on Savannah, the king 
of Spain had been persuaded by the French court to de- 
clare war against England. Spain, however, did not yet 
acknowledge the independence of the United States, nor 
enter into any treaty with them. There Vvere some diffi- 
culties with respect to the boundaries of Louisiana and 
the navigation of the Mississippi ; and in the hope of set- 
tling these difficulties, and of forming an alliance, Mr Jay 
was appointed minister to the Spanish court. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 127 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Clinton's expedition against South Carolina. — Siege of Charleston — 
Affair at Monli's corner. — Charleston capitulates. — Affair of the 
Wasliaws. — South Carolina submits. — Exploits of Sumpter. — Gates 
appointed to command the Southern array. — Battle of Camden. — De- 
feat of Sumpter. — Affairs of the North. — Treacliery of Arnold. — 
Action of King's Mountain. — Greene takes command of the Southern 
army. — Battle of the Cowpens. — Greene's retreat through INorth Caro- 
lina. — Battle of Guilford. — Cornwailis retii-es to Wilmington. — Greene 
advances into South Carolina. — Battle of Hobkirk Hill. — British posts 
taken by Morgan. — Rawdon retires towards Charleston. — Siege of 
Ninety Six. — Battle of Eutaw, 

Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander-in-chief, 
had remained in New York the whole summer ; he had re- 
ceived large reinforcements from England, and had further 
strengthened his army by evacuating Rhode Island. He 
no sooner heard of the departure of D'Estaing, and the 
disasters of the allied army before Savannah, than he re- 
solved to attempt the conquest of South Carolina. Clinton 
himself, with a large body of troops, sailed from New York 
under convoy of admiral Arbuthnot, and arrived at Savan- 
nah the last day in the year. 

About the middle of February, he again re-embarked, and 
cautiously approached Charleston, through the 
1780 islands along the sea coast. The city was not in 
a very defensible state, and Lincoln's army was 
small. Yet tlie place was regarded as of very great im- 
portance ; and while Clinton delayed his approaches, every 
exertion was made to strengthen the fortifications and rein- 
force the garrison. At length the British vessels forced a 
passage over the bar ; the army crossed Ashley river ; and 
the siege was regularly formed. As yet there was an un- 
disturbed communication between the town and 
April I the country north of Cooper's river ; and a body of 
of horse was stationed at Monk's corner to keep 
open this communication, and to cover Lincoln's retreat, 
should he find it necessary to abandon the town. But this 
detachment was surprised and defeated by colonel Tarleton, 
of the British cavalry ; the country north of Cooper's river 
was occupied by the enemy ; and the city of Charleston was 



128 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

invested on all sides. The siege was carried regularly for- 
ward ; and it soon became apparent, that the place could not 
be defended. Fort Moultrie had been taken, and the garri- 
son had been obliged to surrender prisoners of war ; the 
works of the besiegers approached within twenty yards of the 
American lines; and preparations were evidently making for 
a general assault. Lincoln's army was worn out with con- 
stant duty, and was too small sufficiently to man the works. 
Rather than stand an assault, Lincoln consented to surrender 
the town. The forts, shipping, and all other public property 
passed into the hands of the enemy; and the garrison to 
the number of 1500 continentals, and 500 militia, became 
prisoners of war. 

This blow was very severely felt. Detachments of the 
British army were sent into various parts of South Caroli- 
na; and colonel Beckford, who lay at the Washaws, with 
about 400 men, the last remaining fragment of the southern 
army, was attacked by Tarleton, and his regiments dis- 
persed. All further resistance was hopeless; and the whole 
state submitted to the British authority. It submitted in 
appearance ; but a large part of the population was only 
waiting for a good opportunity again to cast off the yoke of 
foreign dominion, and to reassert the right of independence. 
Soon after the submission of South Carolina, Clinton re- 
turned to New York, leaving lord Cornvvallis with an army 
of 4000 men, to complete the conquest of the southern 
states. The heat of the season, and the difficulty of ob- 
taining supplies, retarded all military operations ; but the 
Britsh agents were busily employed in stirring up the loyal- 
ists, who were very numerous in North Carolina, and in 
preparing them to cooperate with the British army. 

Meanwhile, a party of the more determined patriots, who 
had left their own state when the British became predomi- 
nant there, and fled into North Carolina, assembled to- 
gether to the number of 200, and chose colonel Sumpter, 
an old cootinental officer, for their commander. Sumpter 
entered South Carolina, and kept up a continual skirmish- 
ing with detached parties of the enemy. He attacked a 

party stationed at Williamson's plantation, with 
Aug 6 complete success ; and having increased his force 

to 600 men, he surprised and totally defeated a 
British regiment at Hanging Rock. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 129 

While this partizan warfare was kept up by Sumpter, 
measures were taken to form a new army for the defence 
of North Carolina. For this purpose, a body of troops 
was detached from the main army in New Jersey, under 
the command of the baron de Kaib, a German officer, who 
had early engaged in the service of the United States. 
The progress of these troops through North Carolina was 
extremely slow. The country was thinly inhabited ; no 
magazines had been laid up ; and provisions were obtained 
with great difficulty. The troops were reduced to the ne- 
cessity of spreading over the country in small parties, to 
collect corn for their daily food ; and in this way, they pro- 
ceeded slowly towards Salisbury, where they were to be 
joined by the North Carolina militia. 

In the meantime, general Gates had been appointed to 
the chief command of the Southern department. As soon 
as he had joined the army, he advanced and took post at 
Claremont ; while the British forces under lord Rawdon, 
were concentrated at Camden. From Claremont, Gates 
marched on towards Camden, with the design of fighting 
Rawdon, or compelling him to abandon the upper country. 
His army consisted of 4000 men ; but of these, only 900 
were continentals. The British did not much exceed 2C00 
men ; but they were all regular troops. Cornwallis had 
now joined the British army, and perceiving that he could 
preserve his conquests only by fighting a battle, he advanc- 
ed from Camden to attack Gates, at the very time that 
Gates moved from Claremont towards Camden. The ad- 
vanced parties met in the woods ; and after some 
Aug. 14 skirmishing, the line of battle was formed on 
both sides. Gates' centre and left wing were 
composed entirely of militia; and when the British in- 
fantry rushed upon them with charged bayonets, they 
fled at once. The continentals on the right, fought with 
the greatest spirit; and though charged at the same 
time in front and flank, they still maintained their ground. 
They were several times broken; but they rallied as 
often, and fought intermingled with the enemy. At length 
Cornwallis charged them in flank with his dragoons; 
the infantry pressed them in front with the bayonet; and 
unable to resist this double attack, these gallant troops were 
thrown into disorder and compelled to fly. De Kalb^ their 



130 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

commander, fell under eleven wounds. He was taken 
prisoner, and treated with all humanity ; but he expired in 
a few hours. The continental regiments were closely pur- 
sued, and entirely dispersed. Every corps was broken ; 
the officers were separated from the men, and all who es- 
caped the- sword of the enemy, were scattered in small 
parties, or singly, through the woods. The baggage and 
artillery fell into the hands of the enemy ; and though the 
militia fled too soon to suffer much in the battle, they were 
separated and scattered, and not easily to be reassembled. 
The British had lost 325 men ; the American loss was never 
very accurately ascertained ; but it must have been four or 
five times as great. 

Sumpter, who still continued at the head of his light 
corps, had taken a small fort on the Wateree, below Cam- 
den, where he had captured a large quantity of stores, 
and made 100 prisoners. When he heard of Gates' disas- 
ter, he attempted to retreat up the south side of the Wate- 
ree. But he was followed by a detachment under 
Aug 1 8 Tarlton ; surprised near the Catawba ford ; his 
force entirely dispersed ; the stores retaken and 
the prisoners liberated. The fragments of Gates' army re- 
tired to Charlotte in North Carolina, and thence to Salisbury. 

Thus stood the aifairs at the south. In the meantime, a 
French fleet, with 5000 troops on board, had arrived at 
Newport; and sanguine hopes were entertained, that New 
York itself might be taken, by the combined eftbrts of the 
French and American forces. But the weakness of Wash- 
ington's army, the poverty of Congress, and the tardiness of 
the states in furnishing their quotas of men and provisions; 
— these causes, together with the arrival of admiral Rodney, 
with a powerful British fleet, which gave the enemy a great 
superiority at sea, prevented any operations of importance. 
So far from taking New York, the Americans were them- 
selves in danger of losing their own posts on the Hudson. 

When Philadelphia had been" evacuated by the British, 
general Arnold was appointed to command in that city. 
His military talents, activity and courage had been extremely 
conspicuous; but his wounds received at duebec and Sar- 
atoga had, in some measure, disqualified him for active ser- 
vice. While at Philadelphia, he lived in great splendor, and 
though destitute of private fortune, his vanity and love of 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 1(^1 

show led him into profuse expense. He involved himself 
deeply in debt ; and several speculations in which he en- 
gaged, with the hopes of retrieving his fortunes, proved un- 
successful. He had another resource, in large claims against 
the United States; but the commissioners to whom they were 
referred, reduced them considerably ; and when Arnold ap- 
pealed to Congress, a committee of that body reported, that 
the allowance of which he complained, was greater than he 
was entitled to receive. He was, besides, charged with 
various acts of extortion and peculation. 

Soured by his misfortunes, he indulged himself in unwar- 
rantable complaints against what he called the ingratitude 
of his country ; and having rendered himself extremely ob- 
noxious to the state of Pennsylvania, formal charges were 
exhibited against him. He was arrested ; tried by a court 
martial ; and sentenced to be reprimanded by the command- 
er-in-chief This was more than his proud and un])rincipled 
spirit could endure; and from this time, he meditated re- 
venge. He entered into a correspondence with the British 
general; and to facilitate and give importance to his treason, 
he sought and obtained the command of West Point. He 
was known as a brave and able officer ; his patriotism was 
as yet undoubted; and Washington entrusted this important 
post to liis care, without the least suspicion of the designs he 
was meditating. 

Major Andre, a young man of great accomplisliments, an 
aid of Sir Henry Clinton's, and adjutant general of the 
British army, was employed to carry on the intercourse be- 
tween Clinton and Arnold. As Andre was returning from 
an interview with the American general, after he had passed 
all the regular posts and guards by means of a permit, he 
was arrested by three militia men, part of a scouting party 
employed between the country occupied by the British, and 
that held by the Americans. In the confusion of the mo- 
ment, he supposed the men to belong to the British camp, 
and declared himself to be a British officer, travelling on 
business of the last importance. When he discovered his 
mistake, he offered his watch, his purse, any reward they 
Vv'ould name, if they would permit him to pass on. But his 
offers were rejected ; he was searched ; suspicious papers 
were found concealed in his boots ; and he was carried be- 
fore colonel Jameson, the comm.andin^if officer on the lines. 



132 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

Jameson suspected no treachery; and when Andre re- 
quested him to inform his commanding officer that John 
Anderson was taken, — this was the assumed name under 
which Andre travelled, — Jameson immediately despatched 
an express for that purpose. Arnold took the alarm, and 
escaped on board a British vessel then lying in the Hudson. 
Andre was tried as a spy, found guilty, and executed, Arnold 
received from the British government a reward of ^10,000, 
and the rank of brigadier general. 

None scarcely are so abandoned as willingly to confess 
they have been actuated by mean and guilty motives. Ar- 
nold published an address to the people of America, in which 
he attempted to varnish over his treason. He addressed a 
paper to the officers and soldiers of the army, in which he 
endeavored to corrupt them, by contrasting the beggary 
and wretchedness of their situation with the prompt pay of 
the British forces. He inveighed against the alliance with 
France; and accused Congress of being ready to sacrifice 
the good of their country, and the blood of their fellow-citi- 
zens, to promote their own private interest. But Arnold, 
late the pride of the army, was now known and detested as 
a traitor; his influence was gone ; and his addresses were 
received with the contempt they merited. His machinations 
had no success, and he retained the singular honor of being 
the first and the only American officer, who betrayed his 
country's cause. 

Notwithstanding the complete victory, which the British 
army had obtained at Camden, the heat of the weather, and 
the scarcity of supplies prevented Cornwallis from marching 
immediately into North Carolina. The main army of the 
Americans was too weak to attempt anything; but a vig- 
orous partisan warfare was kept up by small bodies, under 
the command of Marion and Sumpter, who defeated several 
detachments that marched against them. And when Corn- 
wallis sent major Furguson into the western counties of 
North Carolina to raise the loyalists, he was pursued by sev- 
eral bands of mounted riflemen, the hardy inhabitants of the 
western frontier, and entirely defeated m an action 
Oct. 7 at King's mountain. Three hundred of his men 
were killed or wounded, and 850 taken prisoners. 

Not satisfied with the success of Gates, Congress ordered 
an inquiry into his conduct, and general Greene succeeded 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 133 

Dec. 2 him in the command of the southern department. 
He joined the army lying at Charlotte, much re- 
duced in numbers, and but ill provided with arms, clothing, 
stores and provisions. Greene was of an active and enter- 
prising disposition, and weak as his army was, he despatched 
Morgan across the Catawba, to narrow the limits of the 
British, and cut off" their supplies. In the meantime, he 
marched down the Pedee, with the main body of his forces, 
and encamped near the northern boundary of North Carolina. 
In consequence of this movement, Cornwaliis was placed 
between Morgan and Greene ; and he took advantage 
I78I of his position to detach Tarleton, with a chosen 
body of troops, to cut off Morgan before he could 
rejoin the main body. The American leader received in- 
formation of this movement, and retreated with all possible 
speed. If he could cross the Broad river, he was safe; but 
Tarleton pwrsued with such vigor, that it seemed most prob- 
able he would overtake the Americans before they could 
effect a passage. If his forces should be attacked while re- 
treating, a defeat would be almost inevitable; and in prefer- 
ence to running such a risk, Morgan resolved to fight a 
battle on ground of his own choosing. 

He selected a position at the Cowpens, where he drew up 
his troops, and awaited the arrival of Tarleton. His conti- 
nental infantry was stationed on an eminence, in an open 
wood, with the cavalry in their rear. These two corps 
amounted to about 600 men, and on them rested all Morgan's 
hopes. The front line consisted entirely of militia. 
Jan. 17 Tarleton soon arrived, and formed his men. Con- 
fident of victory, they rushed forward with a shout. 
The militia of the front line fled at the first fire ; but the 
continentals stood firm, and fought with great bravery. The 
contest was long and bloody. The enemy pressed forward, 
and the continentals retreated, but with perfect order, over 
the hill ; the British followed close, and were within thirty 
yards of the American line, when suddenly the continentals 
faced about, and poured in upon them an unexpected and 
deadly fire. The British ranks were thrown into disorder ; 
the continentals rushed forward with charged bayonets, and 
the enemy were completely broken. In the meantime, the 
American horse, under colonel Washington, had charged 
Tarleton's cavalry, and driven them from the ground. Up- 
12 



134 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

wards of 100 of the British were killed, and 500 were made 
prisoners. The American loss was less than thirty men. 
Tarleton, with the fragments of his detachments, joined 
CorDwallis, who immediately moved, with all his forces, in 
pursuit of Morgan. But that able officer, well knowing he 
would be closely pursued, had continued his retreat without 
the least delay; and he succeeded in crossing the Catawba 
ford, two hours before the British reached the op- 
Jan. 29 posite bank. In the course of the following 
night, an immense flood of rain rendered the river 
impassable. 

Greene now arrived, and taking in person the command 
of Morgan's troops, turned his whole attention towards ef- 
fecting a junction between the two divisions of his avmy. 

On the 1st of February, Cornwallis forced the passage of 
the Catawba, at a ford guarded only by a few militia 
and immediately recommenced the pursuit. Greene's rear 
guard had a smart skirmish with the van of Cornwallis', 
which came up just as the American army, — all but the 
rear guard and a part of the baggage, — had crossed the 
Yadkiii. The men escaped under cover of the night: but 
the baggage fell into the hands of the enemy. Greene 
was again preserved by a flood of rain which rendered the 
Yadkin impassable. He proceeded to Guilford, v/here he 
was joined by the other division, which had been marching 
north to meet him ; but as he was still too weak to fight 
Cornwallis, he continued his retreat, and crossed 
Feb. 14 the Dan into Virginia. He completed the pass- 
age of the river, just as the British army appear- 
ed on the opposite bank. 

Cornwallis retired to Hillsborough, then the capital af 
North Carolina, where he took measures for recruiting his 
army and restoring the royal government. Unwilling ta 
leave him in quiet possession of North Carolina, Greene 
soon recrossed the Dan. But he was not strong enough to 
hazard a battle ; and to prevent Cornwallis from forcing 
him into one, he was obliged, every night, to occupy a new 
position. Several sharp skirmishes took place, in which 
the advantage was generally with the Americans. Rein- 
forcements came in from time to time, and Greene's army 
having at length increased to 4000 men, 1500 of whom 
were continentals, and 2500 militia, he, in his turn, sought 
a battle. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 135 

The armies met at Guilford. Greene's first tline onc- 
sisted of the North Carolina militia; the Virginia militia 
formed the second line ; behind these, the continentals 
were drawn up, but of the four regiments, only one was 
veteran, the others consisting entirely of new levies. The 
first line fled without once discharging their muskets ; the 
Virginia militia fought better, but in a short time they 
were completely routed. The British now pressed f )rward 
against the continentals. One of the new levied regiments 
broke and fled in the utmost disorder; the others fought 
with great bravery; but Greene, fearing they might be sur- 
rounded, ordered a retreat. In this battle the British lost 
532 men, including several valuable officers. The Ameri- 
cans had 400 men killed and wounded ; but the militia 
corps, though they suffered little in the action, were broken 
and almost entirely dispersed. 

Greene retired to the Ironworks on Troublesome creek, 
where he expected to be again attacked; but Cornwallis 
had suffered so much by the battle of Guilford, and experi- 
enced so much difficulty in obtaining provisions, that he 
found himself obliged to retire, first to Ramsey's mills, 
and then to Wilmington. Greene followed him for some 
distance ; but at length filed off", with the design of carry- 
ing the war into South Carolina, where Lord Rawdon 
commanded a considerable army. Greene had been march- 
ing for several days against Rawdon, before Cornwallis dis- 
covered his destination. It was now too late to attempt 
forming a junction with the forces in South Carolina, and 
Cornwallis resolved to imitate the bold policy of Greene, 
and to advance north into Virginia. 

Lord Rawdon was stationed at Camden u'ith the princi- 
pal part of his forces ; but numerous fortified posts, extend- 
ing from Charleston to Augusta, were occupied by British 
and loyalist garrisons. Greene encamped before Camden ; 
but he was not strong enough to besiege it in form. Raw- 
don drew his forces out of the town, and attacked Greene, 
at Hobkirk's Hill. At first the Americans were success- 
ful ; but the fortune of the day afterwards changed, and 
Greene was obliged to draw off his forces. The loss was 
about equal, and amounted to about 250 men on each side. 

In the meantime, colonel Lee, at the head of his cavalry, 
had been sent to join Marion, who still kept up a partizan war- 



136 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

fare in the northeastern part of the state. After uniting their 
forces, these two officers had marched southward, and be- 
sieged and taken fort AVatson on the Santee. They after- 
wards Jaid siege to fort Motte, and threatened to cut off all 
communication between Charleston and the British army. 
Lord Rawdon had been reinforced by 600 men, under 
colonel Watson, and was now much stronger than Greene ; 
but alarmed for the safety of fort Motte, he resolved to re- 
tire into the lower country. He was too late ; fort Motte 
was taken before he could reach it ; and about 
May 12 the same time, the post at Orangeburgh had sur- 
rendered to Sumpter, Lord Rawdon now retired 
to Monk's corner, — a convenient station for covering the 
country in the neighborhood of Charleston ; and Greene 
marched on to besiege Ninety Six, a strong post held by 
the British between Camden and Augusta. 

He pressed the siege vigorously, and on the 18th of June, 
was joined by Lee, who in conjunction with a body of 
militia, commanded by general Pickens, had besieged and 
taken the town of Augusta. But in a few days the unwel- 
come intelligence was received, that Rawdon had been re- 
inforced by three regiments lately arrived from Ireland, and 
was advancing to raise the siege of Ninety Six. Greene 
attempted to carry the place by storm, before Rawdon 
could arrive. The men marched boldly to the 
June 18 assault; but the place was gallantly defended, 
and after losing 155 men, the Americans were 
obliged to retire. Rawdon was already in the neighbor- 
hood, and he followed the American army for some dis- 
tance ; but at length he gave up the pursuit and returned 
to Ninety Six. 

Various marches and manoeuvres followed ; till on the 
8th of September the armies met at Eutaw, on the Santee, 
w^here the generals resolved to try the fortune of another 
battle. In the first part of the action the British were rout- 
ed and driven entirely off the field. But a party hav- 
ing thrown themselves into a large brick house, and others 
occupying a picketed garden adjoining, they resisted and 
repulsed every attempt to dislodge them ; and in the mean- 
time the flying troops rallied, formed anew, and succeeded 
in maintaining their ground. The armies lost, each, about 
700 men. Both sides claimed the victory ; but in fact it 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



137 



belonged to neither. However, the Americans derived 
from it all the advantages of success, for the British imme- 
diately retreated to Monk's corner. Here they were too 
strongly posted for Greene to attack them, and he retired 
with his army to the high hills of Santee. 

In this active campaign, the skill and courage of gene- 
ral Greene had been very conspicuous. With an army far 
inferior to the forces opposed to him, he had recovered the 
whole of Georgia and the Carolinas, except the sea-ports 
of Wilmington, Charleston and Savannah. The army had 
displayed an uncommon share of activity and courage — par- 
ticularly the cavalry under colonels Lee and Washington, — 
and almost without a murmur, had endured the severest 
sufferings from want of adequate clothing and provisions. 
The sufferings occasioned by this ardent struggle, were 
not confined to the army. The inhabitants of the coun- 
try were about equally divided. One half were in favor of 
independence, the other sided with the British. Mutual 
injuries had sharpened their resentment; neighbor had 
armed against neighbor ; and the most shocking outrages 
were perpetrated on both sides. The whole country had 
become one continued scene of blood and slaughter. But 
these turbulent times were now fast drawing to a close. 



CHAPTER XV 



State of the Army. — Revolt of the Pennsylvania line. — Reforms in the 
Executive Departments. — Robert Morris superintendent of Finance. — 
Operations of Coruwallis and La Fayette in Virginia. — Arrival of a 
French fleet. — Resolution to act against Cornwallis. — New London 
destroyed. — Cornwallis surrenders. — Treaty of peace. — New York 
evacuated by the British army. — Washington resigns his commission 

At the north, the year had opened with no very favorable 
prospects. Congress had some time before resolved to issue 
no more bills of credit; and the only resources for clothing 
and feeding the troops, were requisitions on the states slowly 
and unwillingly complied with, and some small loans and 
12* 



138 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

subsidies obtained in France. During the winter, the troops 
were repeatedly on the point of starvation; they were ex- 
tremely ill clothed, and had served almost twelve months 
witiiout pay. The Pennsylvania regiments, besides these 
general causes of dissatisfaction, had some peculiar griev- 
ances of their own, growing out of the terms upon which they 
had been enlisted, and on the first of January, 1781, they 
broke out into open mutiny. Sir Henry Clinton endeavored 
to make advantage of this revolt, and sent persons to nego- 
tiate with the mutineers. But he was disappointed ; his 
emissaries were seized ; and the utmost detestation was 
manifested at the idea of going over to the enemy. ' This 
revolt was of very dangerous example, and a source of much 
perplexity; but at length certain terms were agreed upon ; 
by which a part of the Pennsylvania troops were to receive 
their discharge, and the rest the arrearages of their pay. 

About this time a reform took place in the organization of 
the executive departments of the general government. Ev- 
erything had hitherto been carried on by committees ; but 
the increasing poverty of Congress compelled them to aban- 
don this expensive and unwieldly system. Robert II. Liv- 
ingston was appointed secretary of foreign affairs, general 
Lincoln, secretary of war, and Robert Morris, superinten- 
dent of finance. 

To considerable !)olitical talents, Mr Morris added a de- 
gree of mercantile enterprise, information and credit seldom 
equalled ; and he exerted himself to the utmost to give order 
and solidity to the deranged finances of the country. By his 
advice and procurement, the Bank of North America was 
established at Philadelphia ; and by the help of this institu- 
tion, he was enabled to avail himself of his own private 
credit, and to turn the public resources to such account, as 
to raise the funds necessary for carrying on the war. 

On the 20th May, Cornvvallis, v/hom we left on his march 
into Virginia, arrived at Petersburgh, where lie united his 
forces with an army of 3000 men, which, under the com- 
mand of generals Arnold and Philips, had been spreading 
desolation through the lower parts of that state. The de- 
fence of Virginia had been entrusted to the marquis -de la 
Fayette. This young nobleman, inspired by an ardent love 
of liberty, had left all the pleasures of home, and the enjoy- 
ment of an ample fortune, and at an early period of the war, 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



139 



came to America to assist in fighting the battles of freedom. 
He was received with the greatest enthusiasm; was appoint- 
ed by Congress a major general in the army of the United 
States; and had served with good reputation. 

La Fayette was at Richmond, with 1000 continental sol- 
diers, and 2000 militia. The number of Cornwailis' army 
was much greater; and he resolved, if possible, to bring the 
marquis to an action. But La Fayette retreated with rapidity 
and skill, and succeeded in forming a junction with general 
Wayne, who had been sent to his assistance with the regi- 
ments of the Pennsylvania line. Cornwailis retired to Wil- 
liamsburgh; and La Fayette, whose forces had now increased 
to 4000 men, followed him, and took post on James river, 
about twenty miles distant from that town. Some other 
movements took place, and Cornw^allis finally established 
himself at Yorktown, a position which he fortified with the 
greatest care. 

In the meantime, Washington was contemplating active 
operations against New York ; and the French troops, which 
had been landed the last year at Newport, and had remained 
there ever since, were marched to the highlands in order to 
form a junction with the American army. The count deGrasse 
arrived from the West Indies, with twentyeight ships of the 
line, and being joined by Barras, who lay at Newport, the 
strength of their fieet gave the French a temporary command 
of the sea. 

The new levies had joined Washington's army so slowly, 
that he judged himself not strong enough to attempt any- 
thing against New York. That plan was abandoned ; and 
it was now determined to employ the land and naval forces 
against Cornwailis. Clinton had intercepted some letters of 
Washington, in which the attack on New York was men- 
tioned ; and he was so much alarmed for the safety of that 
place, that the army was far advanced on its march against 
Cornwailis before Clinton gave up the idea, that an attack 
was intended against himself. When it was too late to ob- 
struct the progress of the American army, Clinton sent an 
expedition, under the command of Arnold, against Connec- 
ticut ; probably with the design of alarming Washington, 
and recallincr him to the north. 

Arnold landed not far from New London. Fort Griswold, 
at the entrance of the river Thames, was taken by 



140 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

Sept. 6 assault, and the garrison slaughtered without 

mercy. As the British entered the fort, one of 
their officers asked, who commanded? ' I did,' said colo- 
nel Ledyard, ' but you do, now.' With these words he 
presented his sword to the officer, who received it, and 
instantly plunged it into Ledyard's bosom. New London 
was burned ; but Arnold, who knew and dreaded tlie spirit of 
the Connecticut militia, hastily re-embarked his troops, and 
returned to New York without effisctino; anythinor further. 
At length, the allied troops arrived before Yorktown ; the 

French, under the command of Rochambeau and 
Sept. 25 Chatelleux, the Americans under the command 

of Washington ; while De Grasse, with his fleet, 
blocked up the entrance of the Chesapeake, and prevented 
any succors arriving by sea. York is on the south side of 
York river. On the opposite shore is Gloucester point, 
a piece of land extending into the channel, and this point, 
as well as York, was occupied by the British army. The 
communication between these two posts was commanded by 
the British batteries, and by several ships of war, which lay 
under their protection. A detachment of the allied army 
was sent to blockade Gloucester, while the weight of the 
attack was directed against York. 

The first parallel was commenced within 600 yards of the 

British lines; the batteries were soon completed ; 
Oct. 6 heavy cannon mounted on them, and a tremendous 

fire opened on the place. Five days after, the 
second parallel was began within 300 yards of the British 
works. Two advanced redoubts, occupied by the enemy, 
enfiladed this parallel, and annoyed, extremely, the workmen 
employed in the trenches. It was resolved to carry these 
redoubts by assault ; and to take advantage of the spirit of 
emulation manifested by the troops, the attack of one was 
committed to the A mericans, that of the other to the French. 
The American storming party was commanded by the mar- 
quis La Fayette, the French by the baron de Viomieul. 
Both parties advanced with equal courage, and the redoubts 
were carried at the point of the bayonet. They were im- 
mediately included in the second parallel, and the fire of the 
new batteries was soon after opened. The situation of 
Cornwallis was fast becoming desperate. He attempted a 
sally, but was repulsed ; he thought of passing his armj 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 141 

across the river, forcing a passage through the troops that 
blockaded Gloucester, and attempting to reach New York 
by land. But his boats were driven down the river, and it 
became impossible to carry, even this desperate scheme, into 
execution. There was no other resource but capitulation; 
and on the 19th of October, the whole army, in number over 
7000 men, surrendered themselves prisoners of war. 

The capture of this army excited the greatest joy through- 
out the country. It was justly considered, as in effect, the 
closing scene of the revolutionary struggle. The 

1782 war had become so unpopular in England, that 
the House of Commons voted, ' they would con- 
sider as enemies to their king and country, all who ad- 
vised a further prosecution of it.' Steps were accordingly 
taken for negotiating a peace. Benjamin Franklin, John 
Jay, and John Adams, were the agents employed on the 
part of America. 

The negotiation was protracted not only by the ordinary 
diplomatic delays, but by a willingness on the part of 
France, — such is the unsubstantial nature of national 
friendships — to deprive the United States of the right of 
fishing on the banks of Newfoundland, and a desire to 
limit their western boundary . by the Alleghany mountains. 
But the firmness, penetration and judgment of the Amer- 
ican commissioners, carried them triumphantly through all 
these embarrassments, and on the 30th of November the 
preliminary articles were signed at Paris. On 

1783 the 20th of the following January a cessation of 
hostilities was agreed upon, but the treaty of 

Peace was not finally concluded before the 25th of Sep- 
tember. 

Holland had acknowledged the independence of the Unit- 
ed States, the year before ; and early this year it was ac- 
knowledged by Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Russia and 
Prussia. Treaties of amity and commerce were conclud- 
ed with most of these nations. On the 19th of April peace 
was proclaimed in the American army, just eight years 
after the war had begun by the battle of Lexington. 
Charleston and Savannah had been evacuated by the Brit- 
ish in December, 1782; and on the 25th of November, 1783, 
their army left New York. 

The war was finished ; its object had been obtained, and 



142 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

the United States of America were allowed and acknow- 
ledged as an independent nation. The struggle had been 
severe. Some of the states had been wasted by the savage 
license of civil contention ; others had suffered from the 
presence of hostile armies, or the plundering incursions of 
the enemy. Commerce had been destroyed, agriculture in- 
terrupted, and the whole country had felt the heavy pressure 
of war and taxation. Every part of the community had 
acted and suffered in the cause ; but the palm ofsuperem- 
inent merit, may justly be ascribed to that gallant and de- 
voted army, which had fought so bravely, and shed its blood 
so copiously during the liuctuating fortunes of an eight 
years' v.ar. These patriotic soldiers had experienced every 
variety of suffering ; not only the ordinary hardships of 
warfare, but sickness, cold, hunger, nakedness, — and 
what was still harder to bear, the injustice and ingratitude 
of that country they had loved and served so well. Unpaid, 
unclothed, their constitutions broken down by the fatigues 
and hardships they had undergone, and all the little pro- 
perty any of them might have possessed when they entered 
the army, expended in providing the necessary means of 
discharging their military duties; — involved in debt, and 
without even money enough to carry them to their homes, 
they were about to be turned upon the world to seek their 
fortunes where they could find them. 

It was not to be expected that all this would be submit- 
ted to in perfect silence. Great dis.'-ontents prevailed ; and 
certain anonymous addresses, written with much spirit and 
ability, were circulated among the officers, in which they 
were called upon not to resign their swords, till they had 
extorted from an ungrateful country the justice it was un- 
willing to do them. But the great prudence and almost 
unlimited influence of Washington, joined to their own in- 
flexible patriotism, prevented the army from following this 
advice. Better counsels prevailed ; the country was saved 
from a civil war; and the army and officers, in a spirit 
of patriotic nobleness such as the world never before saw, 
submitted, with dignified forbearance, to what seemed to be 
an irremediable evil. 

An apology for the remissness of congress in discharg- 
ing the dues of the army, may be found in its utter inabili- 
ty. It had no funds. The paper money had ceased to 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 143 

circulate ; and the requisitions on the states were almost 
entirely disregarded. The states might plead as an excuse 
for their remissness, the great exhaustion and universal pov- 
erty produced by a long and expensive war. These ex- 
cuses are not without weight, — but they are far from being 
satisfactory. Nothing can excuse injustice and ingrati- 
tude ; and when the neglect of the states to satisfy claims 
so fairly due, is contrasted with the patriotic forbearance of 
the army, what generous heart can help feeling shame and 
indignation at the one, and bestowing a well merited ad- 
miration on the other 1 

In the year 1780, when a considerable change was made 
in the organization of the troops, congress on the earnest 
recommendation of Washington, — as an inducement to 
continue in the service, and as some small reward for their 
labors and sufferings, — had voted to allow the officers 
half pay for life. This vote, though a measure of unde- 
niable policy and justice, was extremely unpopular through- 
out the states. It seemed to be imitating too much the 
customs of Europe ; and in the earlier civil and military 
arrangements of the United States, a vehement, and often 
imudicious, dread of European systems, was felt and ex- 
pressed. The officers out of regard *o the prejudices of 
their countrymen, agreed to receive live years' full pay in lieu 
of the half pay for life ; and a few months before the army 
was disbanded, congress passed a resolution to that effect. 

The army received three months' pay in ready money, 
and the rest of their dues in continental certificates ; but 
the credit of congress was so low that these certificates 
were of very little immediate value.* In the course of the 
summer, a great number of the troops were dismissed on 
furloughs ; and on the 18th of October, congress issued a 
proclamation, for disbanding the troops, from and after the 
third of November following. As soon as New York was 
evacuated by the British, Washington entered the city with 
that part of the army which was not yet discharged. Here 
he took leave of his officers ; and having repaired to Anna- 

* They were paid in full after the adoption of the new constitution. 
But this act of policy and justice was of little benefit to the revolution- 
ary soldiers, most of whom had been compelled by sheer necessity, to 
dispose of their certificates at the rate of two or three shillings for the 
pound, which was for several years, all they were worth. 



144 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

polls, he was received by congress at a public audience, 
when he delivered his commission into the hands 
Dec. 25 of the president, * Having finished the work 
assigned me,' he said, ' I retire from the great 
theatre of action ; and bidding an affectionate farewell to 
this august body, under whose orders I have so long acted, 
I here offer my commission and take leave of all the em~ 
ployments of public life.' 



CHAPTER XVI 



Defects of the confedemtioi). — Weakness of Congress. — The public 
debt, — Difficulties with Great Britain. — Depressed state of Commerce. 
— Meeting of Commissioners at Annapolis. — A general convention 
recommended. — State of parties. — Insurrection in Massachusetts. — 
The convention meets. — The const tution formed. — Parties for and 
against it. — The Federalist. — The State conventions. — Constitution 
accepted by ten States. — Time fixed for its operation to commenc^ 
» 

It had frequently happened, during the war, that great 
embarrassments had been experienced, from the 
1784 imperfect nature of the confederation of the states, 

and from the limited powers entrusted to the con- 
gress. But it was not till after the peace, that the ineffi- 
ciency of this form of government was fully displayed. As 
soon as the country was delivered from the presence of a 
foreign enemy, the authority of congress became merely 
nominal. Its requisitions, though often renewed, were 
almost entirely disregarded ; and although its members 
made great efforts to restore the public credit, and to give 
some efficiency to the administration of the general gov- 
ernment, they found it impossible to raise sums sufficient to 
pay even the interest of the public debt. 

Difficulties too, existed with Great Britain, owing to the 
non-execution of certain articles of the treaty of peace. 
The power of congress was inadequate to enforce the exe- 
cution of that part of the treaty, which related to the pay- 
ment of debts due to British subjects ; and the British gov- 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 145 

ernment, in consequence refused to surrender certain forts 
on the lakes, which belonged to the United States, but 
which, during the war, had fallen into the hands of the 
British. The Indians on the frontiers were at war with 
the United States, and there was no hope of peace so long 
as these western posts should be garrisoned by British 
troops. The foreign trade of the country had been almost 
entirely ruined by the long continuance of the war ; and 
the unwillingness of the states to confer on congress the 
power of establishing commercial regulations, prevented 
its revival. The control of American commerce passed into 
the hands of foreigners, who imported vast quantities of 
goods ; and the people, besides the public burdens, soon 
found themselves oppressed by a load of private debt. 

The most judicious and best informed of the people, 
were desirous of conferring on congress some real and ef- 
fectual power. But a large number of persons in every 
state, were very jealous of any such transfer of authority ; 
and seemed to think the public liberties would be lost 
whenever the states resigned the least part of their indi- 
vidual sovereignty. By the influence of these opinions 
every attempt to strengthen the hands of congress was de- 
feated, and the public prospect grew more gloomy every 
day. No modification could be made in the articles of con- 
federation without the consent of all the states ; and a plan 
for regulating commerce, and raising a revenue, though 
agreed to by all the other states, was defeated by the single 
negative of New York. 

In the spring of 1785, commissioners appointed by the 
states of Virginia and Maryland, met at Alex- 

1785 andria, to form a compact concerning the navi- 
gation of the Potomac, These commissioners, 

after attending to the business for which they were ap- 
pointed, agreed to recommend to their respective states, the 
appointment of other commissioners, with power to estab- 
lish a tariff of duties on imports, to which the laws of both 
states should conform, Virginia assented to this proposal ; 
and her assembly passed an additional resolution, 

1786 directing the proposition to be communicated to 
all the states, and inviting them all to send depu- 
ties to the meeting. 

In compliance with this invitation, the delegates of six 
13 ^ 



146 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

States,* assembled at Annapolis, in the fall of 1786. Mr 
Dickenson was appointed chairman ; and they proceeded to 
discuss the objects for which they had convened. But they 
soon discovered that powers much more ample than any 
they possessed, were necessary, if they desired to afford 
any effectual relief to the multiplied disorders with which 
the country was threatened. For this reason, as well as 
on account of the small number of states represented in the 
convention, they agreed on a report to their respective 
states, in which they strongly insisted on the necessity of 
amending the federal compact, and recommended the ap- 
pointment of deputies by all the states, to assemble at Phila- 
delphia, the ensuing May. 

In the meantime, the public disorders became more and 

more alarming. There sprung up in every part 
1787 of the country a party desirous of abolishing all 

debts and all taxes ; and loudly demanding new 
issues of paper money, already the fruitful source of so 
much injustice, fraud, and suffering. In Massachusetts 
and New Hampshire, this spirit prevailed so far, that 
large bodies of men assembled in arms ; interrupted the 
courts of justice ; and threatened to dissolve the govern- 
ment. These dangerous movements t were suppressed by 
the vigorous efforts of Sullivan and Bowdoin, the respec- 
tive governors of New Hampshire and Massachusetts ; — 
but were sufficient to alarm the whole thinking part of 
the community, and to call the attention of every one, to 
the necessity of some immediate improvement in the form 
and administration of the general government. 

Congress had passed a resolution in accordance with the 
report of the convention at Annapolis ; and on the second 
Monday of May the deputies of twelve states assembled at 
Philadelphia. J General Washington, though very reluctant 
to leave the retirement of private life, was so impressed 
with the dangerous situation of the country and the impor- 
tance of the present meeting, that he had consented to accept 
a seat in the convention, as a delegate from Virginia. He 

* New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and 
Virginia. 

t This insurrection was known in Massachusetts, as Shay's rebellion, 
from Daniel Shays, its principal leader. 

X Rhode Island sent no delegate to this convention. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 147 

was unanimously appointed its president, and saw himself 
surrounded by the ablest men the country could supply. 
There was but little difference in the convention, as to the 
great principles of the system which should be adopted. 
But its details were very strongly contested ; and more 
than once, the convention was in danger of separating 
without accomplishing the purpose for which it had assem- 
bled. But a spirit of compromise and forbearance prevail- 
ed ; and after a sitting of about four months, the federal 
constitution, as it now stands, — (except a few 
Sept. 17 amendments afterwards added,) — was approved 
and signed by all the members then present. It 
was resolved that this constitution should be submitted to 
conventions, to be assembled in each state ; and provision 
was made that it should go into operation as soon as nine 
states should agree to accept it. 

The constitution thus submitted to th^ public, was oblig- 
ed to stand a series of most severe attacks. The whole 
community was divided into federalists and anti-federalists. 
The anti-federalists, a large and powerful party, opposed, 
most strenuously, the adoption of the proposed constitution. 
They could not endure the thought of surrendering a par- 
ticle of the individual sovereignty ol'the states ; and exerted 
themselves to the utmost to prejudice the public mind 
against the new system. The federalists, on the other 
hand, conscious that the salvation of the country depend- 
ed on what should now be done, strained every nerve to 
secure the adoption of the scheme recommended by the 
convention. 

The press teemed with pamphlets and essays on this in- 
teresting subject ; and it was apparent that both 
178& parties believed their dearest rights and privileges 
staked upon the question. A series of essays en- 
titled. The Federalist, — the joint production of Hamil- 
ton, Madison and Jay, — appeared in the Nev/ York pa- 
pers, in which the constitution was vindicated and explain- 
ed, in a very able manner ; and which contributed not a 
little, to enlighten the public mind on this most important 
subject. 

The state conventions met ; and the contest was again 
renewed. Several of the states accepted the constitution 
without hesitation, and by large majorities ; but in others, 
the debates were very spirited ; and in several of the con- 



148 



AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 



ventions, especially those of Massachusetts, Virginia and 
New York, the constitution was accepted only by small 
majorities, and not without the recommendation of numer- 
ous amendments.* It having been accepted by ten states, 

congress passed a resolution, ratifying the consti- 
July 14 tution ; and the fourth of March, next ensuing, was 

fixed on as the time when the new system should 
go into operation. Presidential electors appointed in the 
different states, met and balloted, — and senators and rep- 
resentatives were chosen, to constitute a congress under 
the new constitution. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



Washington elected first President, — His journey from Mount Vernon to 
New York. — First session of Congress. — A revenue provided. — Other 
laws. — Heads of departments. — President visits JNew England. — 
Second session of Congress. — Public debt funded. — Debates on this 
subject. — Indian wars. — Treaty with the Creeks. — Harnier defeated. 
— Bank of the United States. — Vermont and Kentucky admitted into 
the Union. — President's southern tour. — First census. — Commerce 
and Navigation. 

The spirit of carelessness and inefficiency, which had 

characterised the last years of the confederation, 

1789 was still so prevalent, that although the 4th of 

March had been fixed upon, as the day on which the 



The following table shows the date of the adoption in each state : — 

Without amendments. 



Delaware, 


December 7, 


1787. 


Pennsylvania, 


12, 


i( 


New Jersey, 


18, 


(C 


Georgia, 


January 2, 


1788. 


Connecticut, 


" 9, 


" 


Massachusetts, 


February 7, 


cc 


Maryland, 


April 28, 


C( 


South Carolina, 


May 23, 


" 


New Hampshire 


i,June 21, 


« 


Virginia 


27, 


'i 


New York, 


July 26, 


ii 


North Carolina, 


November 21, 


<■' 


Rhode Island, 


May 29, 


1790. 



Amendments recommended. 
Without amendments. 
Amendments recommended. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 149 

new system of government was to go into operation, yet a house 
of representatives was not organized till the 1st, nor a senate 
till the 6th of April: 

The first business of the Senate was, to open and count 
the votes for president and vice president. General Wash- 
ington had received a unanimous vote ; and was declared 
by the Senate to be duly elected president of the United 
States. John Adams had the next highest number of votes, 
and was declared vice president. The result of the election 
had, long before, been known ; and Washington, though 
very reluctant to leave the retirement of Mount Vernon, 
had resolved not to decline the laborious honor of this new 
and untried office. The congress had assembled at New 
York, and as soon as Washington was officially notified of 
his election, he set out for that city. 

It was his wish that this journey might be private. But 
the full flow of gratitude and veneration could not be re- 
strained; crowds flocked about him wherever he stopped; 
he was escorted from town to town by corps of militia, and 
cavalcades of citizens ; and was everywhere received with 
unaffected pleasure. The people of Trenton remembered 
the battles fought in their neighborhood twelve years before; 
and though his reception at other places was more splendid, 
it was no where so graceful and elegant. On the bridge 
over the river which divides the town, a triumphal arch was 
erected, ornamented with flowers and laurel, and supported 
by thirteen pillars twined with evergreen. This arch bore 
the following inscription — ' The defender of the mothers 
will be the protector of the daughters.' Beneath the arch 
was a party of matrons, attended by their daughters dressed 
in white, and holding baskets of flowers in their hands. As 
Washington approached, they began to sing a little ode 
composed for the occasion, and ended with strewing their 
flov/ers before him.* 

* The ode was as follows : — 

Welcome, mighty chief, once more, 
Welcome to this grateful shore ; 
Now no mercenary foe 
Aims again the fatal blow, 
Aims at Thee, the fatal blow. 
Virgins fair and matrons grave, 
Those thy conquering arms did save, 
13* 



150 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY' 

Having arrived at New York, where he was received by 
an immense concourse of people, Washington attended in 
the senate chamber; took the oaths prescribed by tlie con-* 
stitution ; and commenced the discharge of his official duties 
by an address to the senate and house of representatives. 

The spirit of party, which had so much divided the coun- 
try on the question of adopting the constitution, had by no 
means entirely subsided; several, both of the representatives 
and the senators, liad been chosen from among the anti- 
federalists; but in boih branches of the legislature, a large 
majority was friendly to the new system, and determined to 
give it a fair trial, and an effective support. 

Among the various important subjects which awaited the 
deliberations of congress, the first to which they gave their 
attention, was the provision of an adequate revenue. A bill 
was introduced by Mr Madison for the purpose of impos- 
ing certain duties on imports, and on the tonnage of ves- 
sels, which, after considerable debate, and several modifica- 
tions, passed into a law. Acts were also passed establishing 
the departments of state, of the treasury, and of war; and 
an act organizing and regulating the judiciary of the United 
States. Twelve articles of amendment to the new constitu- 
tion were recommended by congress, ten of which were after- 
wards accepted by the legislatures of three fourths of the 
states, and became, in consequence, a part of the constitution. 

The president, with the concurrence and assent of the 
Senate, proceeded to fill the new offices, which had been 
established by the constitution, and by congress. Mr Jay 
was appointed chief justice; Mr Jefferson was made secre- 
tary of state ; Mr Hamilton, secretary of the treasury ; gen- 
eral Knox, secretary of war ; and Mr Edmund Randolph, 
of Virginia, attorney general. 

After congress had adjourned, the president made a tour into 
New England, and was everywhere received with that con- 
sideration and regard, which his character and services so 
richly merited. 

The re-establishment of the public credit, and an ade- 
quate provision for the public debt, were strongly 
nOO recommended to the attention of congress in the 
president's speech at the opening of the next ses- 

Tuild for thee triumphal bowers ; 
^'•trew. ye fair, his way wiih (lowers, 
• Strew your hero's w;iy wi'h llower.3. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 151 

sion; and the secretary of the treasury presented a report, 
which exhibited with clearness, and defended with great 
ability, a detailed i)lan for effecting this desirable purpose. 
The public debt, justly denominated by Mr Hamilton ' the 
price of liberty,' was estimated at fiftyfour millions; — the 
foreign debt, consisting of loans obtained in France and 
Holland, amounting to about twelve millions, and the do- 
mestic debt, comprising not only loans from individual citi- 
zens, but a large amount of treasury certificates, issued for 
the pay and support of the army, and other necessary pur- 
poses, amounting to fortytwo millions. In addition to the 
continental debt, every state in the union had debts of its 
own, contracted in the course of the war, and in the public 
defence. The aggregate of the state debts exceeded twenty 
millions, and Hamilton recommended the assumption of 
these debts by the general government, as a measure both 
of sound policy and substantial justice. 

As respected the foreign debt, there was no difference of 
opinion ; all agreed that it must be punctually and t^'ully paid. 
But respecting the domestic debt, and the assumption of the 
state debts, there was, by no means, the same unanimity. 
The continental securities had been for several years of 
small value, and had passed from hand to hand, at a price 
much below par. No one denied that the original holders 
of these certificates were entitled to be paid in full; but it 
was very earnestly contended, that the present holders, hav- 
ing obtained the securities at a price far below their nominal 
value, were not justly entitled to receive more than they had 
paid. To this it was answered, that the public could not 
take advantage of its own wrong. The neglect of the 
nation to pay, was the reason why the securities had depre- 
ciated. The original promise was to pay the whole, and to 
preserve the public faith, the whole must be paid. 

The assumption of the state debts was opposed, on the 
ground that it threw too much power into the hands of the 
general government, and tended to the annihilation of the 
state sovereignties. It was said to be unfair and unjust, 
since it placed all the states on a level, both those which had 
exerted themselves to pay off their debts, and those which 
had not. It was replied that the debts were contracted in 
the service of the nation, and therefore ought to be paid by 
the nation. The objection of inequality was obviated by the 



152 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

proposal of a subsequent settlement to be entered into between 
the union and the several states.* 

The plan proposed by the secretary was debated at great 
length; and after several modifications, passed the house of 
representatives by a majority of two votes. Even this small 
majority was obtained only i3y an arrangement, that another 
bill should simultaneously pass the house, by which the seat 
of government was removed to Philadelphia, and at the ex- 
piration of ten years, to the banks of the Potomac. 

The order and confidence which followed the establish- 
ment of an efficient system of national government; the 
funding of the public debt ; the revival of commerce and nav- 
igation ; and the slower but certain operations of private 
industry, soon wrought a striking alteration in the situation 
of the country, and of individuals. Public and private 
prosperity revived together ; and though many continued to 
doubt the excellence of the new system, all felt its invigor- 
ating influence. 

The Indians on the western and southern frontiers still 
remained at war with the states ; and their hostile disposi- 
tions were inflamed by the machinations of Spanish and 
British agents. The Creeks could bring into the field a 
force of 6000 fighting men, and were headed by Alexander 
M'Gillivray, the son of a white man and an Indian woman. 
He had been educated at Charleston, where he showed in- 
dications of considerable talents ; but afterwards returned 
to the people of his mother's tribe, who elected him to be 
their chief. A negotiation with the Creeks had been some 
time pending without the prospect of any favorable result; 
but M'Gillivray was at length induced to repair to New 
York, where a treaty of peace was finally concluded. 

The negotiations with the Indians northwest of the Ohio, 
were not so successful. These tribes, the Wyandots, Shawa- 
nees, Ottawas, Chippewas, Potowatomes, Miamis, Kicka- 
poos, and several others, could muster a force of 5000 war- 
riors; and many of them, particularly those on the Miamis, 
and the Wabash, were at open war with the United States. 
Despairing of any accommodation with these tribes, the 

* Such a settlement afterwards took place, and several of the states 
were found largely indebted to the United States; but they were never 
called upon to pay the balances against them. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 153 

president resolved on vigorous measures; and general Har- 
mer, with about 1500 men, partly regular troops, but prin- 
cipally militia, was ordered to attack them. He marched 
into their country, and destroyed the towns on the Sioto ; 
but in two engagements between bodies of the enemy and 
detachments of Harmer's troops, the Americans were de- 
feated with considerable loss. Harmer retreated, and the 
frontiers were again infested by Indian war parties. 

At the next session of Congress, an act was passed, by 
the recommendation of the secretary of the treas- 
1791 ury, but not without very vigorous opposition, es- 
tablishing a national bank, with a capital of ten 
millions ; and another act, which was opposed with equal 
vehemence, for augmenting the revenue by an excise duty 
on distilled spirits. 

At the same session, laws were passed for admitting Ver- 
mont and Kentucky to become members of the union. 

The first settlement, within the limits of Vermont, was at 
fort Dummer,* on the Connecticut river. This fort was 
built in 1724, by the people of Massachusetts, as a protec- 
tion against the Indians. Some time afterwards, the French 
Canadians sailed down lake Champlain, and established 
several posts along its eastern shore. But owing to its ex- 
posed situation, Vermont remained almost a wilderness, till 
the last French and Indian war had terminated in the con- 
quest of Canada. After this period, it was rapidly peopled 
by emigrants from Massachusetts and Connecticut. Its ter- 
ritory was supposed to be covered by the patent of New 
Hampshire; the settlers obtained grants of land from the 
governor of that state; and the country was known as the 
JS*eia Hampsliire grants. But New York put in a claim to 
this newly opened country ; and the dispute being referred to 
the king, — for it was during the colonial times, — he decided 
in her favor. In consequence of this decision, the governor of 
New York took possession of the disputed territory, and de- 
clared all the grants of land, made by the governor of New 
Hampshire, to be void ; and endeavored to compel the settlers 
to take out new grants under the authority of New York. 
The settlers having already paid for their lands, refused to 
purchase them anew; and the dispute growing, by degrees, 

* This fort, situated at the southeast corner of Vermont, was be- 
lieved, when built, to be within the limits of Massachusetts. 



154 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

warmer and warmer, in 1777, they declared themselves in- 
dependent of New York, and formed a distinct government 
of their own. In the meantime, the revolutionary war had 
begun. Vermont bore her full share in that war, though, 
through the influence of New York, she was refused admit- 
tance into the confederacy, and was not even acknowledged 
as a separate state. At last. New York despaired of en- 
forcing her claims; and agreed to renounce them for the 
sum of 30,000 dollars. The money was paid ; and this ob- 
stacle being removed, the independence of Vermont was 
acknowledged, and she was admitted to become a member 
of the union. 

The country now included in the state of Kentucky, was 
first explored in 1767, by John Finley, of North Carolina. 
It was afterwards visited by the celebrated Daniel Boone ; 
and the first settlements were began in 1773, under his 
guidance, and on the banks of the Kentucky river. Other 
emigrants followed ; and the lands were gradually occupied 
under grants from Virginia, of which state the new settle- 
ments were considered a part. From its first settlement, 
Kentucky was severely harassed by wars with the Indians; 
but its population increased rapidly; and in 1791, an ar- 
rangement was made between its inhabitants, and the people 
of Virginia, for erecting the newly settled territory into an 
independent state. This agreement was sanctioned by 
congress; and an act was passed for admitting Kentucky 
into the union, from and after the first day of June, 1792. 

After the adjournment of Congress, the president made a 
tour through the southern states; and notwithstanding the 
opposition, which many of the measures proposed by his 
cabinet had met with in that part of the country, he was 
everywhere received with ardent afiection and undiminished 
respect. 

The first census was now completed, and the number of 
the inhabitants within the territories of the United States, 
was found to be nearly four millions. The revenue arising 
from duties on imports, and from the excise and other taxes 
recommended by Mr Hamilton, amounted to four millions 
eight hundred thousand dollars. The commerce and navi- 
gation of the country were in a flourishing condition, the 
annual amount of exports being nineteen millions, and of 
imports twenty millions. The shipping amounted to 280,000 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 155 

tons, but was by no means sufficient to answer the demand, 
— nearly half the commerce of the country being carried 
on by foreign vessels. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



Indian war. — St Clair appointed to the chief command. — Battle near 
the Miami villages. — JSt Clair retreats. — Army increased. — iMint es- 
tablished. — State of parties. — Mr Hamilton. — Mv Jefferson. — Fede- 
ralists. — Republicans, or Democrats. — Opposition to the Administra- 
tion. — Disturbances in the west of Pennsylvania. — Charges against 
jMr Hamilton — Not sustained. — The French revolution. — Its effect 
on parties in the United States. — War in Europe. — Washington's 
proclamation of neutrality. — Citizen Genet. — Democratic societies. — 
Genet recalled. — Resignation of Mr JetTerson. — Mr Madison's com- 
mercial resolutions. — Embargo. — Preparations for war. — Mission of 
Mr Jay. — Hamilton and Knox resign. 

The unfortunate situation of the frontiers, which, after 
the retreat of Harmer, were exposed to all the ravages of 
Indian warfare, had attracted the attention of Congress, and 
on the last day of the session, an act was passed increasing 
the regular army, and enabling the president to raise 2000 
men, under the denomination of levies, to serve for six 
months against the Indians. The recruiting service was 
immediately commenced ; and general St Clair, governor of 
the territory northwest of the Ohio, was appointed com- 
mander-in-chief. But as the common wages of labor far 
exceeded the pay of a soldier, ihe troops were raised with 
difficulty ; and it was late in the season before the regiments 
were complete. In the meantime, two successive expedi- 
tions of mounted militia penetrated into the Indian country, 
killed a few of the enemy, made several prisoners, destroyed 
some towns, and wasted some corn-fields, but effected 
nothing decisive. 

About the beginning of September, St Clair commenced 
his march. He advanced slowly, opening a road, and build- 
ing forts at convenient places. In this way, he had arrived 
within fifteen miles of the Miami villages, when on the 



156 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

fourth of November, about half an hour before sunrise, he 
was suddenly attacked in his camp by a large body of In- 
dians. The assailants pressed forward with great rapidity. 
Firing from the ground, or the shelter afforded by the trees, 
and scarcely seen except when springing from one covert to 
another, they advanced in front and upon either flank close 
upon the American lines, and up to the very mouths of the 
field-pieces. The militia were posted in front. They were 
soon broken, and falling back on the regular troops, threw 
them also into disorder. The officers, most of whom had 
seen service, exerted themselves to rally the men, and par- 
tially succeeded. Colonel Darke twice charged the enemy, 
and drove them back at the point of the bayonet. But 
while they were pressed in one direction, their fire was 
poured in from every other, with fatal effect; and it soon be- 
came apparent, that nothing but immediate retreat could 
preserve the remnants of the army. Major Clarke covered 
the rear ; and a most disorderly retreat immediately com- 
menced. The Indians pursued the flying troops for four 
miles, and then returned to plunder the camp.* The army 
suffered most severely. Out of 1400 men engaged, 630 
were killed, and 360 wounded. Among the former, was 
general Butler, a brave and gallant officer. 

Congress was in session when the news of this defeat 
arrived, — an event entirely unlocked for either 
Dec. by them or their constituents. They had expect- 
ed a victory, and a speedy termination of the war, 
and were quite unprepared for so serious a disaster. The 
Indian war now assumed a more alarming aspect, and fears 
were entertained that other tribes might be per- 
1792 suaded to join those already in arms. A bill 
was introduced for increasingr the regular army to 
5000 men, which, however, was not permitted to pass with- 
out a violent opposition. It was alleged, that increasing 
the regular army, was at the same time to increase the power 
of the president, a measure full of dangers to the liber- 
ties of the country. It was asserted that the militia were 
abundantly competent to defend the frontiers, and superior 

* This battle was fought in the southwest corner of the county of 
Mercer, on the western border of Ohio, near the head of the river 
Wabash. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 157 

in many respects to regular troops, for the enterprises of 
an Indian war. New taxes were voted to support the ad- 
ditional troops ; and an act passed for establishing a uni- 
form militia. The other principal laws of the session 
wore, an act creating a mint, and regulating the coinage, 
and an act apportioning the representatives among the 
states, according to the first census, and after the ratio of 
one for every 33,000. 

The distinction of parties, both in congress and through- 
out the country, had now become marked and obvious. As 
the integrity of Washington was above all suspicion, and 
his popularity and influence almost unlimited, there was no 
one bold enough to head a party in opposition to him. Both 
parties professed unbounded respect for his person, and 
great confidence in his wisdom and abilities; and he was 
too judicious to lessen the dignity of his character, by taking 
a side in party controversies. Mr Hamilton and Mr Jef- 
ferson were the actual heads of the two parties. 

Very soon after their appointment to office, political dif- 
ferences, and perhaps private rivalry produced frequent col- 
lisions between the two secretaries, which terminated at 
length, in a fixed and settled hostility. This schism in his 
cabinet was a source of much disquietude to Washington, 
who felt a high respect for both, and an unwillingness to 
part with either. He exerted himself in vain to effect a 
reconciliation ; and the hostility of the rival secretaries, 
and of their respective parties, grew daily more decisive. 

The party of Mr Hamilton took the name o^ Federalists, — 
a name which had previously been in use to designate the 
friends and supporters of the federal constitution ; and in- 
deed a large portion of the old rederal party was found 
ranged on the side of Mr Hamilton. The party of Mr 
Jefferson, which professed to excel in the true love of lib- 
erty, and in watchfulness over the interests of the people, 
were called Danocrats by their opponents, and by them- 
selves, Republicans. To this party most of those persons 
united themselves, who had been the advocates of state 
sovereignty, and who had opposed the adoption of the fed- 
eral constitution. 

The first object of all parties is power ; the most univer- 
sal of party weapons is calumny ; and when men are in- 
toxicated with the spirit of faction, they neither hear, nor 
14 



158 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

see, nor judge as at other times. If we are to credit the 
republicans, the federalists were hastening to subject their 
countrymen to the yoke of a monarchy ; they could be sat- 
isfied with nothing short of a king and a titled order of no- 
bility ; and all their efforts were directed to the attainment 
of these favorite objects. On the other hand, the federal- 
ists asserted, that their enemies were the enemies of all 
good institutions whatever ; that the democratic party had 
ever been the enemy of the constitution they were now 
seeking to destroy ; and that under the mask of attachment 
to liberty, they sought the indulgence of every evil passion. 
Such sweeping denunciations are always false^. There 
were good patriots and amiable men in both parties, — and 
the one was as little the enemy of liberty, as the other was 
the friend of anarchy and confusion. 

The measures of the president's cabinet were generally 
such as were proposed and supported by the secretary of 
the treasury ; and were of course, most violently opposed 
by the champions of the opposite party. The Indian war, 
and the ill success with which it was prosecuted, were fa- 
vorite topics of public complaint. The internal revenue 
was another prominent object of censure ; particularly the 
excise on distilled spirits, which had from the beginning 
been very unpopular, particularly in the western counties 
of Pennsylvania. 

The opposition to these laws was carried so far that their 
execution was forcibly opposed by combinations among the 
people ; and two successive meetings v/ere held at Pittsburg 
in which the most violent resolutions were adopted, both 
against the laws thcm.sekes and all who should aid in car- 
rying them into execution. A proclamation was issued 
by the president v.'arning all persons to desist from combin- 
ing to oppose the execution of the laws; but it met with 
very little attention. 

Notwithstanding the height of party animosity, the pop- 
ularity of Washington still remained unimpaired, and he 
was again unanimously chosen president. Mr Adams was 
likewise elected vice president, though not without oppo- 
sition. He was a federalist , and George Clinton, governor 
of New York, the democratic candidate, received a con- 
siderable number "of votes. 

At the next session of congress, a violent attack was 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 159 

made on the secretary of the treasury, by Mr 
1793 Giles of Virginia, who accused him of miscon- 
duct, in negotiating certain loans, which had 
been authorized by congress ; and of leaving a large 
amount of public money unaccounted for. A most acri- 
monious dei3ate ensued. But the vindication of Mr Ham- 
ilton, contained in three successive reports, furnished by 
himself, was quite unanswerable : and of sundry resolutions 
moved by Mr Giles, in censure of the secretary, only one 
received so many as sixteen votes. 

The progress of the French revolution began now se- 
riously to affect the politics of America. The citizens of 
the United States, in common with the friends of liberty 
in every other country, had regarded this event, at its com- 
mencement, with the most unmingled satisfaction ; and this 
feeling was heightened by the gratitude and affection with 
which France had been regarded ever since she became 
our ally in the war of the revolution. But when the course 
of events disclosed the darker and bloodier scenes of that 
great drama, for which France was now furnishing the 
stage, men naturally divided into two parties. Those who 
thought no price too dear for liberty, were inclined to look 
with extreme indulgence on the affairs of France, and still 
cherished the hope, that out of the midst of blood and con- 
fusion, good would yet come. Such were the sentiments 
of Mr Jefferson, who had resided at the French court, dur- 
ing the earlier periods of the revolution, and whose imagi- 
nation seems to have been strongly impressed with the cor- 
ruption and injustice of the regal government. 

Those on the other hand, who considered personal secu- 
rity, and the protection of property, as the best fruits of a 
free government, beheld with horror and alarm, the bloody 
executions, and the extensive confiscations of property, 
which had now become so frequent in France ^ and began 
to lose all regard for a revolution, v^hich seemed about to 
uproot every social institution, however cherished or ven- 
-erable. These were in general the sentiments of the fed- 
eralists ; and these opposite views of French affairs were 
combined with differences respecting the policy to be pur- 
sued towards Great Britain, the effect of which was per- 
haps equally influential. 

The revolutionary w^r had naturally left in the minds of 



160 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

the people, a deep and settled hostility towards England, — 
a disposition which is not yet entirely eradicated. This 
hostile feeling had been inflamed by the unwillingness of 
Great Britain to enter into any commercial arrangements ; 
by her refusal to evacuate the western posts ; and by a be- 
lief very general, and not perhaps unfounded, that the In- 
dian war was protracted by the artifices of British agents. 

This unfriendly feeling towards Great Britain, combin- 
ed with partiality for France, had so far prevailed both 
in the cabinet and in congress, that it had been proposed 
to levy discriminating duties, intended to operate favorably 
on French commerce, and unfavorably on that of England. 
This proposal, which was advanced by the secretary of 
state, had been strenuously opposed by the secretary of 
the treasury, on the ground that all nations with whom we 
are at peace, ought to be treated alike ; and that the propos- 
ed discrimination would operate as a tax on American in- 
dustry, in favor of a foreign state. Mr Hamilton succeeded 
in defeating the measure ; but he was stigmatised in con- 
sequence, as the friend of Great Britain, whose institutions 
he was accused of regarding with too high an admiration, 
and of being not a little inclined to imitate. 

The war which had lately broken out in Europe, seem- 
ed likely to inflame to a dangerous degree these feelings 
of favor towards France, and dislike for Great Britain ; 
and what made the crisis still more alarming, was the fact, 
that by the eleventh article of our treaty of alliance with 
France, we were bound to guaranty to her, the possession 
of her West India islands. But the president and his cab- 
inet, decided after a long debate, and not without some 
final difference of opinion, that the clause of guarantee ap- 
plied only to a defensive war, and that in a war of aggres- 
sion, we were under no obligation to afford France the 
stipulated aid. But as great numbers were of a different 
opinion, the president judged it expedient to issue his pro- 
clamation of neutrality, in which the citizens of the United 
States were strictly enjoined to abstain from affording aid 
or assistance to either of the contending parties. 

This was the beginning of a system which was after- 
wards strictly adhered to, by the government of the United 
States ; and which, in the end, was productive of the most 
beneficial consequences. But in the present excited statQ 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 161 

of the public mind, it was regarded by many with very 
little favor. It was a very common opinion, that the trea- 
ty of alliance obliged us to protect, at least the French 
West Indies ; the war against France was regarded as a 
crusade against liberty ; and the president himself did not 
escape censure for his coldness towards so glorious a cause. 
The public mind was still further excited, and popular 

passion wrought up to a great pitch by citizen 
May Genet, who had been sent to the United States, 

as minister of the French republic. He had 
landed at Charleston, where, as well as at Philadelphia, 
New York, and every other place which he visited, he was 
received with marks of the most enthusiastic regard. 
Democratic societies were instituted, on the model of those 
famous clubs, at this time so powerful in France, and^ 
citizen Genet was the hero of these societies. Intoxicat- 
ed by so favorable a reception, he complained that the 
proclamation of neutrality was a direct violation of the 
treaty with France ; and even before he was accredited as 
a minister, he began to commission privateers in the name 
of the French republic, and to enlist officers and men for 
an expedition against Florida. When the president remon- 
strated against these outrageous proceedings. Genet replied 
in the haughtiest and most arrogant style ; and finally 
threatened to appeal from the president to the people. But 
the appeal was not sustained. The people were disgusted 
at the insolence of the French minister, and public meet- 
ings were called in every part of the country, which ex- 
pressly approved the conduct of the president and the pro- 
clamation of neutrality. Though a good deal disappointed 
at the event of his appeal. Genet still continued his vexa- 
tious and irregular proceedings ; and even went so far as 
to enlist troops for an attack on the Spanish province of 
Louisiana. It was seriously debated in the cabinet, wheth- 
er he ought not to be deprived of his diplomatic character ; 
but news soon arrived that the party to which he belonged 
had fallen. He had been superseded, and Mr Fauchet, his 
successor, arrived soon after. The new minister brought 
strict orders to seize M. Genet and send him back to 
France ; and nothing but the refusal of the president to 
authorise a forcible execution of these orders, saved Genet 
from the guillotine. This event did not take place till 
14* 



162 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

the next year. On the last day of the present year, Mr 
Jefferson resigned the office of secretary of state. He was 
succeeded by Mr Randolph, the former attorney general. 
The last official act of Mr Jefferson, was a report to con- 
gress on the commerce of the United States. This 
1 794 report was followed by sundry resolutions moved by 
Mr Madison, thepurport of which was, to levy a dis- 
criminating duty on the manufactures and vessels of those 
countries which had no commercial treaties with the United 
States. These resolutions were aimed against Great Brit- 
ain, and were intended as a retaliation upon her for the 
restrictions Vv'hich existed by virtue of her act of naviga- 
tion,* upon the direct intercourse between the United 
States and the British colonies. Such, at least, was their 
nominal object ; but most probably the resolutions had a 
political as well as a commercial aim. The motion of Mr 
Madison brought on a violent and protracted debate. One 
of the resolutions passed by a small majority. The consid- 
eration of the others was postponed ; and another subject 
was taken up, and debated with almost equal violence. 
This was a bill for providing and arming six frigates, for 
the protection of American commerce, against the Algerine 
cruisers. This measure was opposed in every stage of 
its progress with the greatest pertinacity, but finally pass- 
ed into a law. 

Certain orders in council had been published by the 
British government, the preceding year, interfering with 
the trade between America and France. These orders had 
been remonstrated against ; but instead of being annulled, 
news now arrived that further orders had been issued of 
a nature still more objectionable. These orders were is- 
sued on the principle, that neutrals could not lawfully par- 
ticipate, during war, in any commerce with either of the 
belligerents, from which they v/ere excluded in time of 
peace. This was maintained by the British government, 
to be a principle of the law of nations. But a different 
opinion prevailed in America; and this attack upon her 
commerce, made a strong impression throughout the coun- 
try. War was regarded as the probable result ; an em- 
bargo for thirty days was laid upon all vessels ; certain 

- See p. 30. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



163 



harbors were ordered to be fortified ; the magazines were 
replenished with arms and ammunition ; and measures were 
taken for raising a provisional army. 

The president, regarding war as the greatest of calami- 
ties, and resolved to make one decisive effort for the pre- 
servation of peace/notwithstanding the strong opposition to 
this measure, determined on sending an envoy extraordi- 
nary to the British court, to negotiate if possible, the terms 
of an accommodation. Mr Jay was sent on this mission, 
and furnished with ample powers to arrange all existing 
difficulties, and to conclude a treaty of commerce. 

Besides the controversies growing out of the non-execu- 
tion of the original treaty of peace, and the commercial dif- 
ferences above alluded to, there were several other points 
of serious dispute, as to the respective rights of neutrals 
and belligerents. It has long been, and remains to this 
day, a disputed question, what articles are to be consider- 
ed contraband of war.* It is equally unsettled whether 
enemies' property can be protected by a neutral flag. 
The war at present raging between the sovereigns of 
Europe, and the French republic, made these questions 
very interesting both to America and Great Britain. The 
English, whose predominance at sea was scarcely disputed, 
desirous of distressing France as much as possible, and 
not indisposed perhaps, to shackle the rising commerce of 
America, carried the rights of belligerents to the great- 
est extent, and limited those of neutrals as much as pos- 
sible. The Americans, on the other hand, contended for 
a liberal construction of neutral rights. They were for 
curtailing the list of contraband articles ; and maintained 
the principle, that free ships made free goods, that is, that 
all property on board neutral vessels, to whomever it 
might belong, ought to pass free from seizure and confis- 
cation. 

There was still other grievances much and justly urged on 
the part of the Americans. The British fleet was recruited 
by forcibly compelling British seamen wherever found, to 
serve on board the national vessels. This right of impress- 

^ By articles contraband of war, are understood articles such as gun- 
powder, military and naval stores, &c, with which no neutral vessel 
can supply either of two nations at war with each other, without run- 
ning the iisk of confiscation. 



164 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

ment was not confined to the shore; but British ships of war 
were accustomed to stop vessels at sea, to whatever nation 
they might belong, and to take from them such English 
sailors as they might have on board, often leaving scarcely 
hands enough to navigate the vessel. The Americans did 
not deny the claims of Great Britain to the service of her 
own subjects ; but as the English and Americans spoke the 
same language, and in many other respects were much alike, 
this right of impressment was subject to great abuse, and in 
several instances American citizens had been impressed, 
and compelled to serve on board the British fleet. 

Such, and so various were the disputes, whiclr Mr Jay 
was appointed to compose and compromise. 

At the present session of congress, the official conduct 
of Mr Hamilton became anew the subject of investigation ; 
but the inquiry terminated much to his honor. So far from 
embezzling the public funds, that able officer had spent in 
the public service the greater part of his private fortune. 
The salary attached to his office was wholly inadequate; he 
had for some time contemplated a resignation; and early the 
next year, he retired from office. Influenced by the same 
motives, general Knox soon ^ after followed his example. 
Mr Walcott, of Connecticut, succeeded to the treasury, and 
colonel Pickering was appointed secretary of war. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



Navigation of the Mississippi. — Kentucky remonstrance. — War with 
the Indians. — Wayne's victory. — Insurrection in Pennsylvania. — 
President calls out the militia. — Insurrection suppressed. — Jay's 
treaty. — Its unpopularity. — It is ratified by the President. — Peace 
of Grenville with the northwestern Indians. — Treaty with Spain. — 
Treaty with Algiers. — Proceedings in Congress respecting Jay's treaty. 
— Mr Munroe recalled, and Mr Pinkney appointed envoy lo France. — 
Mr Randolph resigns. — Tennessee admitted into the Union. — Candi- 
dates for the presidency. — Mr Adams elected. 

Frequent efforts had been made, both during the revo- 
lutionary war, and since the peace, to negotiate a treaty 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 165 

with Spain, and to make some arrangements with that nation 
respecting the navigation of the Mississippi. But jealous of 
the rising power of the United States, Spain kept aloof from 
all negotiation; and the discontent of the inhabitants west 
of the Alleghanies, at being deprived of the navigation of 
that river, was wrought up to a high pitch. 

During the last session of Congress, a remonstrance from 
the inhabitants of Kentucky was laid before the legislature, 
which, in an indignant strain, demanded of the government 
the navigation of the Mississippi ; complained that not one 
real effort had been made to attain it; and seemed to threat- 
en a dismemberment of the union if their demand was not 
instantly complied with. 

This remonstrance was followed up by a set of resolutions 
in a style equally intemperate, agreed upon at a meeting 
held at Lexington ; and to add to the embarrassments of the 
government, it was known that an expedition was secretly 
organizing in the state of Kentucky, under the auspices of 
M. Genet,* which had for its object an attack on New Or- 
leans. The governor of Kentucky did not seem much 
inclined to give any assistance to the general government ; 
but they succeeded without his aid in defeating the enter- 
prise. 

In the meantime, the war with the Indians was drawing 
to a close. After the defeat of St Clair, general Wayne 
had been appointed to the chief command ; and the army 
had been recruited under the laws passed for that purpose. 
Negotiations with the Indians were repeatedly tried; but all 
in vain ; and Wayne, confident in the discipline and courage 
of his troops, resolved to terminate the war by some decisive 
operation. Towards the end of the preceding summer, he 
had established himself in an open camp atGrenville, on the 
upper waters of the great Miami, near the western boundary 
of Ohio; and had occupied the ground on which St Clair 
was defeated, where he established a post called fort Re- 
covery. 

In the course of the present summer, Wayne penetrated 
still farther into the Indian country, and established himself 
at the confluence of the An Glaize, and the Maumee.t About 

* This was just before M. Genet's recall, and is the expedition against 
Louisiana, alluded to in the last chapter. 

t Otherwise known as the Miami of the lakes, 



166 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

thirty miles down the Maumee, the British had lately built 
a fort; and in the vicinity of that fort the whole body of the 
Indian warriors was assembled, to the number of more than 
2000. The number of Wayne's regular troops was about 
the same, and he had in addition 1100 mounted militia. 
He advanced cautiously down the river ; and soon discovered 
the Indians advantageously posted in a thick wood in front 
of the British fort. They were drawn up in three lines, 
and their position w^as defended by heaps of fallen timber, 
uprooted in some tornado, which strewed the ground, and 
rendered the approach of cavalry very difficult. The Ame- 
ricans advanced in two lines; one flank protected by the 
river, and the other by a body of mounted militia. The 
Indians kept up a sharp and rapid fire ; but the first line, 
without stopping to return it, pressed on with trailed arms, 
and pushed the enemy out of his covert at the point of the 
bayonet. So impetuous was the charge, that the Indians 
were completely routed, and fled in great disorder. The 
pursuit was continued two miles through thick woods, and 
terminated within gunshot of the British fort. Having de- 
stroyed the houses and cornfields of the Indians, including 
those within range of the British guns, general Wayne re- 
turned to An Glaize. Detachments were sent out to lay 
waste the whole Indian country ; and forts were erected in 
the heart of their territory to prevent their return. 

In the meantime, the discontents in western Pennsylvania, 
occasioned by the excise laws, rose to an alarming height. 
The marshal, who had gone into the disaffected counties to 
serve processes on certain persons, who had been indicted 
for disobedience to those laws, was waylaid and fired at, and 
afterwards taken prisoner by the disaffected. The house 
of general Nevel, the inspector, was attacked by a body of 
armed men; and a small party of regular troops, by whom 
it was defended, was compelled to surrender at discretion. 
Both the marshal and inspector were obliged to fly the 
country. To discover those who were opposed to these 
violent proceedings, the insurgents stopped the mail between 
Pittsburgh and Philadelphia ; broke open the letters ; and 
sent a committee to Pittsburgh to demand the banishment of 
several persons, who, in corresponding with their friends, 
had expressed sentiments favorable to the laws. 

Having laid these facts before his cabinet, and obtained 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 167 

from one of the judges a certificate, in the form required by 
law, that the authority of the government was opposed by 
combinations too strong to be suppressed by the ordinary 
courseof judicial proceedings, the president issued a procla- 
mation warning the insurgents to desist from opposition to the 
laws, and madearequisition onthestatesof New Jersey, Penn- 
sylvania, Maryland and Virginia for their several quotas of mi- 
litia, to compose an army of 15,000 men ; each division to be 
immediately organized, and prepared to march at a moment's 
warning. In the meantime, commissioners were appointed to 
negotiate with the insurgents on the basis of a general amnes- 
ty for past offences, upon a promise of future obedience. 

The insurgents had appointed a committee of safety, 
composed of sixty members, who deputed a sub-committee 
of fifteen to negotiate with the commissioners. All the 
more prudent and considerate men among the disaffected, 
were now seriously alarmed, and the committee of fifteen 
recommended to the committee of safety the acceptance of 
the terms proposed by the commissioners. The question of 
acceptance was vigorously debated, and carried by a small 
majority; but the committee, not thinking themselves au- 
thorized to settle the question, resolved to refer it to their 
constituents. 

Meanwhile the militia of Virginia and Maryland, assem- 
bled at Cumberland, and that of Pennsylvania and 
Oct. New Jersey, at Bedford. Mr Lee, governor of 

Virginia, was appointed commander-in-chief, and 
under him were the governors of Pennsylvania and New 
Jersey. The army marched in two divisions from the places 
of rendezvous into the disaffected counties. The greatness 
of the force prevented the effusion of blood. The insur- 
gents did not venture to embody , and several of the ring- 
leaders, who refused to give assurance of future submission, 
were seized and detained for trial. The troops were soon 
atler withdrawn, except a strong detachment, under general 
Morgan, which was posted for the winter in the heart of 
the disaffected counties. Two of the insurgents were tried 
and found guilty, but through the clemency of the president 
they received a pardon. 

Thus did the prudent vigor of Washington, suppress, 
without shedding a drop of blood, a dangerous insurrection, 
which was beginning to spread rapidly, and which, if not 



168 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

seasonably checked, might have been attended with very 
alarming consequences. Congress, at their next session, 
appropriated one million one hundred thousand dollars, to 
pay the expenses occasioned by this insurrection. 

Mr Jay, after encountering a thousand difficulties, and 
yielding on some points more than his instructions warrant- 
ed, had succeeded in negotiating a treaty with 
1795 Great Britain. This treaty arrived in America 
early in the spring ; on the 8th of June it was 
submitted to the senate, and on the 18th, two thirds of that 
body, precisely a constitutional majority, advised and con- 
sented to its ratification. 

The feelings of hostility towards England, which had 
pervaded the country previous to the appointment of Mr 
Jay, was by no means allayed by the arrival of the treaty. 
Even before its contents were known, the party in opposition 
exerted themselves to the utmost to prejudice the public 
mind against it; and while the senate was deliberating upon 
it, with closed doors, a member of that body, whose party 
zeal was unrestrained by any ordinary obligations, delivered 
an imperfect and incorrect abstract to the editor of a Phila- 
delphia newspaper. This abstract was no sooner published, 
than the whole country was in a blaze. 

Although the treaty provided for the surrender of the 
western posts ; settled the other disputes growing out of the 
oricrinal treaty of peace; and secured to the inhabitants of 
the United States, under certain restrictions, a trade with 
the British possessions in the East and West Indies ; yet it 
omitted all mention of the disputed points of international 
law, and the rights of neutrals. In truth, the doctrines on 
these points, held by the two governments, were so entirely 
at variance, that Mr Jay, content with settling what could 
be settled, had left some of the chief topics of controversy 
in the same state of uncertainty in which he found them — 
and in the same state they have ever since remained. 

A treaty so defective in what was looked upon as essen- 
tial, was condemned in the most sweeping terms. Public 
meetings were called in almost every town; and petitions to 
the president not to ratify it, flowed in from every 
Ano-, quarter. But Washington, whose calm and steady 
spirit was alike unmoved by the sunshine of gen- 
eral applause, and the storm of popular discontent, had 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 169 

given the treaty deliberate examination, and though he saw 
and felt its defects, yet satisfied it was the best that could 
be obtained, and persuaded that peace, even on such terms, 
was far preferable to war, he determined to ratify it. He 
did so ; the clamor against the treaty gradually subsided ; 
and it is now unanimously acknowledged, that scarcely any 
act of Washington's administration was wiser or more un- 
exceptionable. A war with England would have swept our 
commerce from the ocean, and involved us anew in poverty 
and distress. 

The Indians in the northwest had been entirely broken 
by the defeat they received the last year from general 
Wayne ; and in the month of August, that able officer ne- 
gotiated a treaty of peace with all the tribes. This peace 
was made at Grenville ; and the surrender of the v/estern 
posts, which had been so long retained by the British, gave 
assurance that it would be firm and lasting. 

The court of Spain had for some time previous given in- 
dications of a disposition more favorable than had hitherto 
been exhibited. She had been unsuccessful in her war with 
France ; and began to fear lest the people of the western 
states, in order to secure the navigation of the Mississippi, 
should take forcible possession of New Orleans. Thomas 
Pinkney, late ambassador at London, was despatched to 
Madrid under a special commission, and in October of 
this year, concluded a treaty, which settled the south- 
ern boundary of the United States, and secured to their 
citizens the free navigation of the Mississippi, and a right 
of depositing their goods at New Orleans. 

At the next session of congress, the house of represen- 
tatives took the treaty with Great Britain into con- 
1790 sideration, and ckiiming a right to be consulted 
in the ratification of treaties, and to grant or with- 
hold according to their own judgment, the appropriations 
necessary to carry them into effect, they requested the pres- 
ident to lay before the house copies of Mr Jay's instruc- 
tions, and of all other papers connected with the treaty, 
except such as any pending negotiation might render it 
improper to disclose. To this request, the president re- 
turned a firm but respectful negative; claiming for him- 
self, with the advice and consent of the senate, accord- 
ing to the provisions of the constitution, the exclusive 
15 



170 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

authority, to negotiate and ratify all treaties with foreign 
powers. 

This refusal was followed by a most violent debate, in 
which the president was censured in the severest terms ; 
and it seemed to be doubtful whether the house could be 
prevailed upon, to make the appropriations necessary to car- 
ry the treaty into operation. But the prejudices against it 
were now beginning to subside ; the public sentiment 
seemed to favor the ratification ; congress could not refuse 
to vote the necessary sums without a breach of the public 
faith ; and the appropriations were finally carried by a ma- 
jority of fiftyone to fortyeight. 

Thus were most of the embarrassments, which from the 
institution of the general government, had perplexed its 
administration, finally dissipated. The public debt had 
been funded ; a competent revenue provided ; a dangerous 
insurrection suppressed ; the Indian wars ended ; our neu- 
trality maintained ; and the disputes with England and 
Spain peacefully adjusted. 

The relations with France, however, still remained a 
subject of anxiety. One of the great parties into which 
the country was divided, seemed still to retain for the 
French people, all the affection which had once been 
quite universal. But the party which supported the admin- 
istration, disgusted by the excesses of the revolution, alarm- 
ed at the ambition of the French republic, and not satis- 
fied with the treatment America had received from the 
new government and its diplomatic agents, had been gradu- 
ally weaned of their enthusiastic fondness for France. 
The proclamation of neutrality had been regarded by 
the French as a violation of the treaty of alliance ; they 
were still further exasperated by the treaty with Great 
Britain ; and under the influence of these feelings, several 
decrees had been issued, and American vessels had been 
seized and confiscated, in direct violation of the treaty of 
commerce. Mr Munroe, our minister at Paris, did not 
seem to the president to urge the rights of America with 
sufficient vigor. He was recalled, and Charles C. Pink- 
ney was appointed his successor. It having been accident- 
ally discovered that Mr Randolph, the secretary of state, 
had made communications to M. Adet, the French minister, 
which in the opinion of the president were highly improper. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 171 

he had, some time before, resigned his office, and had been 
succeeded by Mr Pickering.* 

TeNxVessee was this year admitted into the union. Fort 
Loudon on the river Tennessee, had been built in 175G ; 
but no permanent settlements were made till 176S. The 
early settlers suffered much from wars with the Indians; 
and the country was afterwards a good deal distracted by 
internal disputes. Efforts were made to erect an indepen- 
dent state by the name of Frankland; but these attempts 
did not succeed, and the settlements remained a part of 
North Carolina till 1790, when they were ceded to the 
United States, and became known as the Territory south- 
toest of the Ohio. From this period the population increas- 
ed with great rapidity, and the territory was now erected 
into a state and admitted into the union. 

Washington having announced, in his farewell address 
to the people of the United States, his intention 
Sept. to retire from public life, the choice of his suc- 
cessor immediately became a subject of great 
public interest. The federalists supported John Adams 
and Thomas Pinkney, as candidates for the presidency 
and vice presidency ; the whole strength of the oppo- 
site party was drawn out to support Mr Jefferson. As 
the constitution originally stood, t each elector voted for 
two candidates, without specifying which he intended for 
president, or which for vice president ; and the candidate 
who received the highest number of votes, provided it was 
a majority of the whole, was elected to the first office, and 
he who received the next highest number, to the second. 
Under this provision, the federalists succeeded in raising 
Mr Adams to the presidency ; but Mr Jefferson was chosen 
vice president. 

* The place was offered to Patrick Henry, of Virginia, the celebra- 
ted orator ; but he was induced by domestic considerations to decline it. 

t In 1804, the constitution was amended, and a different provision 
was made. 



172 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 



CHAPTER XX. 



btate of affairs with France. — Mr Pinkney not received. — Mission of 
Pinkney, Gerry and Marshall. — Treaty with France annulled. — Re- 
ception of the American envoys. — Preparations for war. — Naval en- 
gagements. — 31ission of Ellsworth, Davie and I\Iurray. — Convention 
with France. — Death of Washington. — Seat of government removed 
to the District of Columbia. — Canvass for the Presidency. — Mr Mar- 
shall secretary of Siate. — Courts of the United States reorganized. 

The new president was scarcely inaugurated before he 
found himself obliged to assemble congress by 
1797 proclamation, to deliberate on the state of affairs 
between France and the United States. M. Adet, 
the French minister, had been recalled ; and when Mr 
Pinkney, the successor of Mr Monroe, arrived at Paris, 
the French directory refused to receive him, and ordered 
him to quit without delay, the territories of the republic. 
On giving Mr Munroe his audience of leave, the president 
of the directory addressed him in a speech, in which the 
most flattering expressions of regard for the people were 
mingled with insulting reflections on the government of 
the United States ; and to complete this system of hostility, 
American vessels were everywhere captured by French 
cruisers, and condemned in the admiralty courts, under 
pretence that they were not furnished with a document, 
which it had been uniformly understood was dispensed 
with by the treaty of commerce. 

Earnestly desiring to maintain peace, the president re- 
appointed Mr Pinkney, together with Elbridge Gerry and 
John Marshall, joint envoys to negotiate, if possible, the 
terms of an accommodation. But in the meantime, con- 
gress passed an act, declaring that the treaties with France, 
inasmuch as they had been repeatedly violated by her, 
were no longer binding on the United States. 

The new commissioners having arrived in France, were 
treated but little better than Mr Pinkney had been, while 
sole envoy. Though permitted to reside at Paris, they 
were not accredited as public ministers ; but were neverthe- 
less beset by agents of the directory, who plainly insinu- 
ated, that a grant of money to France, and generous pres- 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 173 

ents to the individual directors, might open the way for an 
accommodation. •' Millions for defence,' said Mr Pinkney, 
* but not one cent for tribute.' Pinkney and Marshall were 
next solicited to resign their commissions, and when they 
refused, were ordered to leave the country ; Mr Gerry, 
whose sentiments were thought more favorable to France, 
was permitted to remain ; and after the departure of his 
colleagues, was invited to renew the negotiation. This, 
however, he declined to do. 

When the news of these events arrived in America, they 
excited every where a lively indignation. Both 

1798 parties united to repel the insults offered to their 
country in the person of its envoys ; all commer- 
cial intercourse with France was suspended ; twelve regi- 
ments were added to the peace establishment ; and the 
president was authorized to raise a provisional army of 
10,000 men. Washington was appointed lieutenant gene- 
ral and commander-in-chief, not only of the provisional army, 
but of all the other forces of the United States. A navy 
department^ was created ; provision was made for increas- 
ing the number of public vessels ; and merchant ships 
were authorized to protect themselves against the French 
cruisers. This state of things continued nearly a year ; and 
two sharp naval actions took place in the West Indies. 
The Constellation, of 38 guns, commanded by commodore 
Truxton, met and captured the French frigate I'lnsurgent, 
a vessel of superior force. In a subsequent action, Trux- 
ton compelled La Vengeance, a fifty gun ship, to strike her 
colors, but night came on, and she succeeded in escaping. 

The directory now discovered that they had gone toofar. 
They had no intention of involving themselves 

1799 in a war with America, and the show of vigor and 
spirit on the part of the United States, caused 

them to change their tone. Intimations were conveyed 
through Mr Murray, the American minister in Holland, of 
a disposition to treat ; and Mr Murray, together with Oliver 
Ellsworth and William R. Davie,* were appointed by the 
president, commissioners for that purpose. This proceed- 

* Patrick Henry had been previously appointed, but he died before 
the envoys were ready to embark, and general Davie was nominated 
in his place. 

15* 



174 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

ing was exceedingly unpopular with a portion of the fede- 
ral party, who contended that America had already done 
enough, and that the first advances towards a reconcilia- 
tion ought to come from France. The president was un- 
willing to sacrifice the peace of the country to a point of 
etiquette. But notice was given to the French government 
that the newly appointed envoys would not embark, unless 
upon explicit assurance that they should be received with 
the respect appertaining to their public character. These 
assurances were given, and the envoys proceeded on their 
mission. When they arrived in France, they found the 
directory fallen, and the government in the hands of Na- 
poleon Bonaparte. After considerable negotiation, they 
succeeded in concluding a convention, in September of 
the following year — by which the United States were re- 
leased from the obligations of the treaty of alliance, on 
condition that they relinquished all claims on the French 
government for spoliations on American commerce, com- 
mitted prior to the date of the convention. 

Washington did not live to see the peace concluded. He 
died on the 14tli of December, after a short and sudden, but 
violent illness. The news of his death spread a universal 
gloom ; every mark of respect, which gratitude and venera- 
tion could devise, was paid to his memory ; and it was evi- 
dent that he died as he had lived, pre-eminent in the confi- 
dence and affections of his countrymen. 

Tn the summer of 1800, the public offices were removed 
from Philadelphia to Washington; and in the month 
1800 of November, congress assembled for the first time 
in that city. 

The canvass for the next presidency, was already very 
warm. Two acts had been passed in 1798, when the diffi- 
culties with France were at their height, commonly known 
as the alien and sedition acts, — the first of which author- 
ized the president to order out of the country any alien, 
whose residence in it he might think dangerous, — the 
other provided for punishing the publishers of seditious and 
defamatory articles, which might tend to bring discredit on 
the government and its officers. These acts, as well as those 
for augmenting the army and navy, and indeed the whole 
conduct of the administration in the controversy with France, 
were the subjects ©f incessant attack on Mr Adams and his 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 175 

administration. The president attempted to propitiate his 
opponents by dismissing Mr Pickering, the secretary of 
state, and appointing Mr Marshall his successor.* But he 
was too unpopular to gain favor by such expedients, and the 
friends of Mr Jefferson grew stronger every day. 

At the last session of congress, during Mr Adams' admin- 
istration, an act was passed, not without a very 
1801 violent opposition, reorganizing the courts of the 
United States ; and on the last day of his presiden- 
cy, he appointed, under this act, twelve new judges. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



Mr Jefferson elected president: — Reduction of the army and navy. — 
Repeal of iNIr Adams' judiciary act. — Ohio admitted into the Union. — 
Purchase of Louisiana. — Expedition of Lewis and Clarke. — War with 
Tripoli. — The Philadelphia taken — Destroyed by Decatur. — Tripoli 
bombarded. — Sidi Joussouf, Bashaw of Tripoli.— Eaton's arrangement 
with Hamet. — Derne taken. — Treaty with Tripoli. — Trial of colonel 
Burr. 

Mr Jefferson and Mr Burr were the candidates of the 
republican party for the offices of president and vice presi- 
dent. On examining the returns, it appeared that both had 
received a greater number of votes than either of the fed- 
eral candidates, and both the same number. As the consti- 
tution then stood, t it remained for the house of representa- 
tives to assign the presidency to one of these two candidates; 
the vice presidency belonging of right to the other. 

The house of representatives proceeded to ballot : but a 
difficulty again occurred ; for the same number of votes 
was thrown for both candidates. This situation of affairs 

* Mr Pickering and Mr Marshall were both federalists; but Mr 
Pickering was thought to carry the principles of the party to a greater 
extreme than his successor. Mr Marshall not long afterwards was ap- 
pointed Chief Justice of the United States, which office he still contin- 
ues to fill v/ith great ability. 

1 See note, p. 171. 



176 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

was brought about by the management of the federalists. 
Ahhough unable to sustain their own candidate, they still 
hoped to defeat the favorite object of their adversaries, and 
to raise Mr Burr over the head of Mr Jefferson. The ballot 
went round thirtyfive times, always with the same result. 
But at the thirtysixth trial, the federalists of one or two 
states gave way, and Mr Jefferson was elected president. 
At the next session of congress, the republican party 
began to carry into operation several of their favor- 

1802 ite doctrines. Economy became the order of the 
day. The army and navy were reduced; the ex- 
cise duty, and other internal taxes were repealed ; the judiciary 
was restored to the footing on which it had stood before the 
late act for its reorganization ; and the new judges appoint- 
ed by Mr Adams were thus deprived of their offices. The 
members of Mr Jefferson's cabinet, were James Madison, 
secretary of state, Albert Gallatin, secretary of the treasury, 
Henry Dearborn, secretary of war, Robert Smith, secretary 
of the navy, and Levi Lincoln, attorney general. 

This year, the state of Ohio was admitted into the union 
The first settlement within the limits of this state was made 
at Marietta, in 1788, by a party of emigrants from Massa- 
chusetts, under the guidance of general Putnam. At this 
time, Ohio formed a part of the Northwest Territory. Its 
progress was slow till after the peace with the Indians, in 
1795. Since that period its population has increased with 
remarkable rapidity. 

In 1803, the territory of the United States was more than 
doubled in extent by the purchase of Louisiana. 

1803 This vast territory, comprising all that part of 
the United States west of Mississippi, after remain- 
ing in the possession of Spain since 1763,* was receded, 
in the year 1800, to France. This cession was kept secret 
till after the peace of Amiens, in 1802. When it became 
known, it excited the most lively alarm in the minds of the 
American government. The free navigation of the Missis- 
sippi was essential to the growth and prosperity of the west- 
ern states. While the Spaniards possessed Louisiana, they 
had never ceased to interrupt and embarrass the trade of the 
river; and the Americans had of late been prohibited from 

* See chap. VIII. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



177 



depositing their goods at New Orleans, notwithstanding that 
right wa"s secured to them by treaty. The enterprise and 
ambition of France would be still more dangerous ; and 
Mr Jefferson contemplated a war, and an alliance with Eng- 
land, rather than permit the French to take possession of 
their newly acquired province. 

But the peace of Amiens was not of long continuance; 
and after the renewal of war in Europe, Bonaparte despair- 
ed of defending so distant a possession as Louisiana against 
the naval power of England. Besides, he wanted money ; 
and after a good deal of discussion about the price, Messrs 
Livingston and Munroe succeeded in negotiating a treaty, 
by which Louisiana was ceded to the United States for fifteen 
millions of dollars. Two millions and a half of this sum. 
were to be retained to satisfy the claims of the American 
merchants for spoliations committed by the government 
of France. 

The appropriations to complete this purchase were opposed 
by the whole strength of the federal party. The compact 
was branded as a mere contrivance to bestow fifteen millions 
upon France ; and the idea of extending the territory of a 
country so large and so thinly peopled as the United States, 
was denounced as dangerous and absurd. But undoubtedly 
this purchase was one of the wisest acts of Mr Jefferson's 
public life. It secured to the United States the whole ex- 
tent of the Mississippi, from its source to its mouth; quieted 
forever the fears of the western states, whose prosperity was 
no longer dependent upon the caprice of a foreign power ; 
and averted the danger, by no means slight or distant, of a 
foreign and hostile nation being planted along the numerous 
rivers, and among the fertile prairies of the west. 

The following year, the southern part of the ceded country 
was erected into the territory of Orleans; and Messrs Lewis 
and Clark, two officers of the army, with a party of soldiers, 
a botanist, and other attendants, were sent to explore the 
new and unknown regions of the north and west. They 
ascended the Missouri to its sources ; crossed the Rocky 
mountains; descended the river Columbia to its mouth; 
and after a journey of twentyeight months, arrived on the 
shores of the Pacific ocean. Lieutenant Pike was employed, 
about the same time, to explore the upper courses of the 
Mississippi ; and from this period the extensive regions of 
the west beo^an to be better known. 



178 Ai\ ABRIDGED HISTOlix 

A war had existed with Tripoli since 1802, and one or 
two naval actions had taken place between American vessels 
and Tripolitan cruisers. This year, com.modore Preble was 
sent into the Mediterranean with a squadron of seven ships. 
As captain Bainbridge, in the frigate Philadelphia, was re- 
connoitring the bay of Tripoli, and was ia rapid pursuit of 
a small vessel, his ship struck on a sunken rock, and all at- 
tempts to get her afloat were unavailing. She was soon 
surrounded by the Tripolitan gun-boats; and the crew were 
obliged to surrender. The officers were treated as prisoners 
of war; but the men, according to the custom of the Tripo- 
litans, were reduced to slavery. 

The Philadelphia was moored in the harbor of Tripoli : 
but the officers of the navy were impatient to repair this 
disaster; and lieutenant Decatur conceived the daring en- 
terprise of retaking or destroying the captured 
1S04 vessel. He sailed from Syracuse in a small schoon- 
er, with a crew of seventysix men; entered the 
harbor of Tripoli under a neutral flag; ran his vessel along- 
side the frigate ; sprang on board with his party ; and soon 
overpowered the Tripolitan crew. A heavy fire was imme- 
diately opened on the Philadelphia from the batteries on 
shore, and the other ships in the harbor. Decatur set fire 
to her, and sailed out the harbor in his own vessel; not one 
of his men were killed, and only four were wounded. In 
the course of the summer, Tripoli was several times bom- 
barded ; and many bold and gallant deeds reflected honor 
on the officers and men of the American squadron. 

The war against Tripoli was not confined to the sea. 
Sidi Joussouf, the reigning bashaw, had attained 
1805 that dignity by the murder of his father, and the 
banishment of Hamet, his elder brother. The 
exiled chief had found a refuge among the Mamaluke beys 
of Upper Egypt; and William Eaton, the American consul 
at Tunis, a man of a romantic and enterprising turn, under- 
took to seek him out, and to engage him in an attempt to 
recover his paternal dominions. Hamet listened to the 
proposals of Eaton, and a body of men, principally Arabs, 
was assembled at Alexandria. Eaton was appointed to the 
chief command ; and leaving Alexandria, he commenced 
his march through the deserts of northern Africa. 

After a progress of fifty days, and 600 miles, during which 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 179 

his followers suffered incredible hardships from hunger, 
thirst and fatigue, Eaton arrived at Derne, the most easterLj 
town of Tripoli. He carried this place by assault ; and w^as 
soon after attacked by a much superior force, which he suc- 
ceeded in repelling. He sustained another attack with equal 
success ; but the expedition was cut short by a treaty between 
the United States and Tripoli. By the provisions of this 
treaty, sixty thousand dollars were paid to the bashaw; the 
officers and crewof the Philadelphia were released; and the 
American government relinquished the cause of Hamet.* 
In the year 1807, the public mind v/as much excited by 
the arrest and trial of colonel Burr, on a charge 
1807 of high treason. After the contest for the presi- 
dency, which terminated in the choice of Mr Jef- 
ferson, colonel Burr lost entirely the confidence of the 
democratic party. Being a man of talents and ambition, 
and having numerous personal friends, he attempted to re- 
trieve his political importance, and offered himself as a can- 
didate for the office of governor of New York. He hoped 
to carry the election by the assistance of the federal party; 
but the influence of Mr Hamilton, who disliked his charac- 
ter, and distrusted his motives, deprived him of many votes, 
and defeated his election. Exasperated at this defeat, he 
sent Hamilton a challenge. It was accepted ; and Hamilton 
fell at the first, fire mortally wounded. Burr was now de- 
nounced by the federalists as the murderer of Hamilton, and 
found himself at war with both the great parties by which 
the country was divided. Thus situated, he is supposed, 
(for the subject still remains a matter of much obscurity), 
to have engaged in an enterprise for dissevering the union, 
and establishing an independent nation west of the Alle- 
ghanies. But the circumstances which were disclosed at his 
trial seem rather to indicate an expedition against the pro- 
vinces of Mexico. Burr was acquitted on the charge of 

*Hamet complained that in this business, he was unfairly treated. The 
only provision for his benefit, which the treaty contained, was an arti- 
cle, by which the reigning bashaw agreed to release Hamet's wife 
and children. But a secret clause was annexed to the treaty, which 
rendered this article a mere mockery. By the secret clause, Sidi was 
to be allowed four years to carry into effect the article in fiwor of his 
brother. Hamet afterwards came to this country, and presented a peti- 
tion to Congress for remuneration and redress ; but without effect. 



180 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

treason; but his fortune, character and influence were 
annihilated; and for many years subsequent he resided 
abroad.* 



CHAPTER XXII. 



Flourishing state of American commerce. — Depredations renewed. — 
Berlin decree. — Impressment of American seamen. — Affair of the 
Chesapeake — Proclamation of the president. — Admiral Berkeley re- 
called. — British orders in council. — Milan decree. — Embargo. — Its 
unpopularity in the eastern states. — Decree of Bayonne. — ISon-inter- 
course acts. — JMr Madison president. — Krskine's treaty. — Not rati- 
fied. — Mr Jackson. — Decree of Rambouillet. — Act of May, 1810. — 
Alleged repeal of the Berlin and Milan decrees. — Reparation for the 
attack on the Chesapeake. — Refusal of the I'ritish government to revoke 

' the orders in council. — Affair of the Little Belt. — Battle of Ti|)pe- 
canoe. — War declared against Great Britain. — Orders in council re- 
voked. — Louisiana admitted into the Union. 

During the wars in Europe, which were caused by the 
French revolution, the commerce of i\merica increased to 
a surprising and unexpected degree. The Americans were, 
in fact, the only neutral nation; and the carrying trade of a 
large part of Europe fell into their hands. The neutrality 
of the United States was the source of great weaUli, and 
the true foundation of their prosperity; but it was, never- 
theless, attended by many difficulties and embarrassments ; 
and during the next eight years, the country paid a high 
price for its preceding prosperity. 

It was, indeed, a very unfortunate circumstance, that the 
two great political parties which divided America, had be- 
come, as it were, the respective partizans of Britain, and of 
France. So that the flagrant insults which these haughty 
rivals alternately inflicted upon the United States, though 
too gross to be openly defended, found not unfrequently, 
even among the American people, laborious and zealous 
apologists. 



in the oily of New York. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 181 

From the commencement of the European war, there 
never was a time that depredations were not co vnitted upon 
the commerce of America, by one or other of the belligerant 
nations. Jay's treaty with Great Britain, and (he convention 
of 1800 with France, procured an interval of comparative 
security ; but the outrages of these rival nations were about 
to be renewed on a scale still more extensive. 

The commercial part of the treaty with Great Britain ex- 
pired by its own limitation, in 1804. Mr Munroe, and Mr 
Pinkney, of Maryland, were appointed joint envoys to procure 
a new arrangement; and in December, 1806, a treaty more 
favorable, on the whole, than any we have obtained from 
Great Britain before or since, was signed by the American 
plenipotentiaries, and by lords Holland and Aukland, on the 
part of the British ministry. The president, without con- 
sulting the senate, refused io ratify this treaty ; — principally 
on the ground that it did not contain any effectual provisions 
against the impressment of American seamen. Our com- 
merce, so far as Great Britain was concerned, was thus left 
unprotected by any diplomatic arrangements ; and the con- 
vention of 1800 with France began, soon after, to be most 
grossly violated by the emperor Napoleon. 

In the course of the European war, Bonaparte had ob 
tained an undoubted mastery by land. Holland, Italy, and 
a large part of Prussia had been subdued, and erected into 
dependent kingdoms. Austria, Spain, and the nations on 
the Baltic were in close league with Bonaparte, and in fact, 
rather his servants than his allies ; and Russia soon after 
became his friend. But the command of the English over 
the seas, rivalled Bonaparte's empire on the land. The 
united fleets of France and Spain had been annihilated 
at the battle of Trafalgar ; and all the principal ports of the 
French empire, and sometimes a long extent of coast, were 
held in vigorous blockade. 

Bonaparte contended that the British carried the laws of 
maritime warfare to an unwarrantable and piratical extent.* 

* The disregard of neutral rights, and in particular, the unwarrant- 
able extension of the doctrine of blockades, was a sr.bject of constant 
complaint on the part of the American minister, at the court of London. 
The Briiish, atone time, declared the whole coast of Prussia, an exten 
o 600 miles, to be under blockade. By the laws of war, neutral ves- 
sels aro excluded from blockaded ports 

w 



Ib'Z AN ABRIDGED HISTORl- 

By way of retaliation, he not only aggravated the severiiitjs 
of warfare on the land, — but unable to reach the British 
isles with his armies, — he conceived a new plan of attack, 
to which he gave the name of the Continental System. This 
was a scheme for cutting off all intercourse between Europe 
and Great Britain ; and by annihilating the commerce of 
England, to dry up the sources of her power. 

He commenced this system shortly after the battle of 
Jena, — in which he had totally defeated the army of Prus- 
sia, — by issuing from the city of Berlin, the capital of his 
enemy, on the 21st of November, 1806, his famous Berlin 
Decree. Among other matters, the whole British islands 
were declared to be in a state of blockade; and it was 
provided, that no vessel coming from England or her 
colonies was to enter any French port, on pain of for- 
feiture. If this decree was to be considered as extending to 
American vessels, it was. an obvious and flagrant violation of 
neutral rights ; since neutrals have always been privileged 
to trade to and from such ports and countries, as suit their 
own convenience. But Mr Armstrong, our minister at 
Paris, regarded this edict, for some time, as a mere muni- 
cipal regulation ; it was generally so regarded ; and though 
several American vessels were seized, no condemnationns 
took place till November, 1807; nearly a year after the de- 
cree was promulgated.* 

The indignation which the extension of the Berlin decree 
to the commerce of America, might justly have excited, was 
in some measure neutralized, and the current of public 
feeling diverted, by an event which had happened a few 
months previously in our own waters. The question of im- 
pressment had not been settled by Jay's treaty, and had 
ever since remained a subject of negotiation. In 1803, 
Rufus King, at that time the representative of the American 
government at the court of London, had nearly concluded 
a convention, very advantageous to the United States, by 
which all impressment on the high seas was prohibited ; but 

* The seizures made by Bonaparte and his allies, imder this and 
subsequent decrees, became the foundations of the claims of Americaii 
merchants, about which so much has been said and written, on 
France, Spain, Holland, Naples and Denmark, The Spanish and 
Danish claims have been paid or compromised. The others, thoue;!? 
Tory justly due, remain unsettled. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 183 

the British minister finally refused to sign the treaty, unless 
the narrow seas* were excepted from its operation. The ar- 
rangement was thus frustrated ; our vessels remained expos- 
ed to the visits of British cruisers ; and though it had never 
been pretended that national vessels were subject to this 
pretended right of search, America did not escape even this 
indignity. 

The British maintained a squadron^ which cruised along 
the coast of the Urjited States, and plundered Ameri- 
can commerce, under pretence of enforcing belligerent 

rights. Three seamen had deserted from this 
1807 squadron, and were said to have enlisted in the 

American navy,. A demand for these men was 
made at Washington., but without success. The deserters 
had shipped on board the frigate Chesapeake, then lying in 
Hampton roads, and commanded by commodore Barron. 
As the Chesapeake was proceeding to sea, she was followed 
by the Leopard of fifty guns, one of several British ships 
of war then lying in the bay. The Chesapeake lay to, 
till th-e Leopard came up ; when the captain of the latter 
vessel sent a message on board the Chesapeake, demanding 
the three deserters, in conformity with certain orders of ad- 
miral Berkeley, who commanded on the American station, 
which were sent inclosed. Barron replied, that he knew of 
no such men as the captain of the Leopard described ; and 
that he had orders not to permit his crew to be mustered by 
any one except himself or his officers. Upon this, the Leo- 
pard ranged alongside the Chesapeake, and commenced a 
furious cannonade. As Barron had no expectation of en- 
countering an enemy so near home, he was totally unpre- 
pared for action. After sustaining the fire of the Leopard 
for twenty minutes, during which three of his men were 
killed and eighteen wounded, he struck his colors, — without 
having fired a single gun, — and sent a lieutenant on board 
the Leopard, to say that he considered the Chesapeake her 
prize. No answer was sent to this message ; but an officer 
from the Leopard soon came on board the Chesapeake, and 
having mustered her crew, took away the three deserters, 
and one other man said to have deserted from a merchant 

* The English channel and other seas by which Great Britain is 
surrounded. v 



184 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

vessel.* Barron called a council of his officers ; and after 
consulting with them, returned to Hampton roads. The 
commander of the Chesapeake was afterwards tried by a 
court martial for his conduct on this occasion. The court 
acquitted him of several other charges, but found him guilty 
of negligence in the equipment of his vessel, and suspended 
him from command for five years. 

This scandalous outrage upon a national vessel, excited 
the indignation of the whole country; and if war had been 
immediately declared, the opinion in favor of it would have 
been almost unanimous. But the president contented him- 
self with issuing a proclamation, commanding all British 
armed vessels to leave the waters of the United States, and 
with sending orders to our minister at London, to suspend 
all negotiations with Great Britain, till reparation was made 
for this insult. The entire abolition of impressment on 
the high seas, was to be insisted on, as a security against 
future aggression ; and no arrangement was to be made, 
which did not include this provision. 

The British ministers instantly disavowed the orders 
issued by admiral Berkeley, and he was recalled from his 
command. But they refused to make the abolition of im- 
pressment on the high seas, a part of the reparation de- 
manded ; they complained of the proclamation of the presi- 
dent as an act of hostility ; and soon after appointed admi- 
ral Berkeley to a command more honorable than that from 
which they had recalled him. The negotiation was trans- 
ferred to America ; and the next year Mr Rose came to 
Washington as envoy from Great Britain. But his powers 
were very limited, and he accomplislied nothing. 

In the meantime, the British government issued their 
famous Orders in council, in retaliation of Bonaparte's 
Berlin decree. By these orders, all direct trade from 
America to any part of Europe, at war with Great Brit- 
ain, or which excluded the British flag, was totally 
prohibited. A provision, however, was made, by which 
goods might be landed in England, and after paying 

* Three of these men, it was afterwards discovered, were American 
citizens, who had been pressed into the British service, and who took 
the earliest opportunity of escaping from it. The fourth was tried, and 
executed as a British deserter. 



OP THE UNITED STATES. 165 

a. duty, he reexported to Europe. The orders in council 
were issued in November ; and in December they were fol- 
lowed by Bonaparte's Milan decree, by which every vessel 
that should submit to be searched by a British man of war, 
or which should touch at a British port, or should pay any 
impost whatever to the British governm.ent, was declared to 
be denationalized., and subject to seizure and condemnation. 

By this series of wicked and unjust edicts, the neutral 
trade of America was entirely ruined. If the vessels of the 
United States went to France, without first touching at a 
British port, they were liable to capture by the British 
cruisers ; — if they touched at a British part, they were 
certain of confiscsition as soon as they arrrived in France. 
Neither nation pretended to justify its decrees on any other 
ground than that of retaliation. But under pretence of re- 
taliating on their enemy, they did not scruple to ruin all 
neutral commerce ; and to bring poverty and distress upon 
thousands of inoffensive individuals, the subjects of a state 
at peace with both belligerents. Bonaparte boasted him- 
self the champion of free trade and neutral rights ; — 
those very rights Avhich he did not hesitate to destroy, un- 
der pretence of vindicating. The British averred that they 
were fighting for the liberties of the world, and were the 
last remaining barrier against the far spread despotism of 
the French emperor. Under such magnanimous pretences 
did Bonaparte and the British ministers vie with each other, 
in heaping injuries and indignities on a people, whom 
they thought too weak, — perhaps not spirited enough — 
to resent them. The decrees of both nations were equally 
unjust, but those of England were the most severely felt. 
Bonaparte could seize only those vessels within the ports 
und harbors under his control. But the British cruisers 
swept every sea ; and even the bays along our own coast 
were narrowly watched by these insolent intruders. 

The measure resorted to by the American government, 
as a defence against these aggressions, and a means to pro- 
cure relief, was a general embargo, by which all inter- 
course between the United States and foreign countries 
was entirely prohibited. This law was passed in Decem- 
ber ; and it was hoped that the distress expected to be pro- 
duced in England and France by the cessation of inter- 
16* 



186 AK ABRIDGED HISTORY 

course with America, would induce one, or both those na- 
tions to annul its obnoxious decrees. 

But the operation of this law was more severely felt at 
home than abroad. The business of the com- 

1808 mercial cities was suddenly at a stand ; and in 
the eastern states particularly, large numbers of 

people were deprived of their accustomed means of support. 
The act was very much criticised, as needlessly severe, 
since there was some foreign trade which might as well 
have been spared, with countries dependent neither on 
England nor France. And the eastern states complained 
that there was no equality in its operation. They were a 
trading people, and suffered most severely from this pro- 
hibition of all trade ; while other parts of the country felt 
scarcely any annoyance. The operation of the embargo 
on the belligerents was by no means, such as had been an- 
ticipated. They did not appear to feel any considerable in- 
convenience from it. Indeed Bonaparte could have no very 
serious objection to an act that coincided so well with his 
favorite continental system ; and Britain was not unwilling 
to have the trade of the world, which she had for a long 
time shared only with America, left wholly in her own 
hands. 

However, Napoleon did not let slip so good an opportu- 
nity for enriching himself by" the plunder of American 
merchants. In April, he promulgated the decree of Bay - 
onne, by which ail American vessels then in France, or 
which should arrive there, were ordered to be seized and 
sold for the benefit of the government. The pretence for 
this decree was, that as during the embargo, no American 
vessel could lawfully navigate the ocean, all vessels appar- 
ently American, must be, in reality, British property. But 
there were many American vessels lawfully abroad, having 
left the country before the embargo. And besides, this 
was a mere municipal law. Such vessels as disregarded it, 
though liable to be confiscated by their own government, 
committed no offence against France ; and the seizure ot 
vessels under this decree was no better than a wholesale 
robbery. 

The embargo was so extremely unpopular ; its violations 
were so open and flagrant ; and the impossibility 

1809 of enforcing it in the eastern states, without the 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 187 

aid of a military force, became so apparent that, on the 
1st of March it was repealed, and an act for prohibiting 
all intercourse with France or Great Britain was substi-- 
tuted in its place. 

Mr Jefferson had declined another election ; and Mr 
Madison, late secretary of state was chosen his suc- 
cessor. The new cabinet consisted of Robert Smith, of 
Maryland, secretary of state, Albert Gallatin, secretary of 
the treasury, William Eustis, of Massachusetts, secretary 
of war, Paul Hamilton of South Carolina, secretary of 
the navy, and Caesar A. Rodney, of Delaware, attorney 
general. 

In April of this year, Mr Erskine, the British minister 
resident at Washington, concluded a treaty with the Amer- 
ican government, which for a little while promised to dis- 
sipate the gloomy prospects of commercial affairs. By this 
treaty, the British orders in council were to be revoked, 
after the 10th day of the following June; and at the same 
time the non-intercourse act, was to cease to have any oper- 
ation, so far as Britain was concerned. Mr Erskine also 
offered such reparation for the attack on the Chesapeake, 
as the president thought proper to accept ; and a proclama- 
tion was issued for reviving intercourse with Great Britain. 

But the British cabinet refused to accord to this arrange- 
ment, on the ground that Mr Erskine had exceeded his in- 
structions, and he was recalled. A short and angry cor- 
respondence took place between Mr Smith, secretary of 
state, and Mr Jackson, the new minister, on the subject 
of Mr Erskiue's instructions. Mr Jackson was recalled 
at the request of the American government ; and the 
attempt at reconciliation which promised so fairly, tend- 
ed only to aggravate the hostile feelings of the two 
nations. 

In March, of the next year, the United States suffered 
anew from the rapacity and injustice of Bona- 
ISIO parte. By the decree of Ramhomllet, which was 
alleged to be in retaliation of the non-intercourse 
act, all vessels of the United States which since the 20th 
of March, 1808, had entered any French port, or the ports 
of any French colony, or of any country occupied by the 
French, or which should thereafter enter, were declared 
forfeit, and were to be sold for the benefit of the French 



188 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

treasury. Besides the condemnations under this decree, 
the French privateers, unable to keep the sea against 
the British, had scarcely any other employment than 
cowardly and piratical depredations on American com- 
merce. 

The provisions of the non-intercourse act being about to 
expire, congress passed a new act by which it was 
May provided, that if either of the belligerent nations 

would repeal her obnoxious acts, and the other did 
not, within three months after, repeal hers, that then com- 
mercial intercourse should be continued with the nation re- 
pealing, while the provisions of the non-intercourse act 
should revive against the delinquent nation. 

Mr Armstrong gave notice of tlie passage of this act to 
the French government ; and M. de Champagny, duke of 
Cadore, the French minister of foreign affairs, soon after 
assured him, that the Berlin and Milan decrees were repeal- 
ed ; and would cease to have any operation against the Uni- 
ted States, after the first of the following November, provided 
America would cause her right to be respected by Great 
Britain. This alleged repeal was attended with several em- 
barrassing circumstances. No decree of repeal was exhib- 
ited ; and in a report on neutral rights, made by the French 
minister of justice, the repeal was not noticed. Captures 
continued to be made under the original decrees ; and 
though no condemnations took place, the causes were car- 
ried by appeal to Paris, and kept pending there, attended 
with great expense. 

However, the American government acted on the strength 
of M. de Champagny's declaration, and called on the British 
ministers to revoke their orders in council. But they resist- 
ed the demand, on the ground that no sufficient evidence was 
furnished, that the Berlin and Milan decrees had actually 
been repealed; and American vessels of great value contin- 
ued to be seized by the British cruisers, and condemned in 
their admiralty courts. 

In March, 1811, the provisions of the non-intercourse act 
were revived against Great Britain. Mr Foster 
1811 came out as envoy from the British government; 

but he effected nothing except the settlement of 
the affair of the Chesapeake. The government finally accept- 
ed the terms agreed upon by Mr Erskine. '^^p\ cop«'««tftd 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 189 

in a renewed disavowal of the orders issued by admiral 
Berkeley; the restoration of the men; and a pecuniary com- 
pensation to the wounded, and the families of the slain. 

Among other ships of the British squadron, which hovered 
on the American coast, and permitted scarcely a single vessel 
to pass unexamined, was a brig called the Little Belt. During 
the night of the 11th of May, this vessel fell in with the 
American frigate. President. It was quite dark; the ships 
hailed each other, and a cannonade began, which killed 
eleven of the Little Belt's men, wounded twentyone, and 
soon compelled her to strike her colors. The crews of each 
vessel most positively averred that their adversary gave the 
first fire ; and the two nations, as might be expected, gave 
entire credit to the statement of their own people. 

To add to the embarrassments of the American govern- 
ment, the frontiers seemed likely to be visited by an Indian 
war. Tecumseh, a chief of the Shawanee tribe, was a man 
of great talents and ambition. He had a brother, usually 
called the Prophet, of less abilities than himself, but as he 
pretended to supernatural powers, possessing even greater 
influence over his superstitious countrymen. These two 
chiefs, desiring to put a stop to further encroachme^/„.- on 
their hunting grounds, and relying on promisesof assi - nee, 
received from the governor of Canada, had for some f •; past, 
been occupied, in forming an alliance among all the tribes of 
the northwest. The frontier settlers became seriously 
alarmed ; and the movements of the Indians seemed to indi- 
cate approaching hostilities. 

To demand an explanation, and to put a stop to their hos- 
tile proceedings, general Harrison, the governor of Indiana 
territory, with a regiment of regular troops, and a body of 
militia, commenced a march towards the Prophet's town, 
situated on Vermilion river, a branch of the Wabash. He 
had reached the Tippecanoe,* and was within a few miles of 
the Prophet's town, when the principal chiefs came out with 
offers of peace and submission, and requested that he would 
encamp for the night, as it was then too late to enter upon 
business. Harrison granted their request ; but the troops 
did not encamp without due preparations against surprise, 

* Another branch of the Wabash. 



190 AN ABRIDGED HIS l CRY 

This precaution proved by no means superfluous. 
Nov. 7 For about four o'clock the next morning, the camp 
was furiously attacked by a large body of Indians, 
who were not repulsed without great exertions, and the loss 
of 180 men in killed and wounded. The loss of the Indians 
was much greater. Harrison marched forward, destroyed 
the Prophet's town, and established such forts as seemed 
necessary for the protection of the frontier. But the Indians 
still maintained in a hostile attitude ; and the probability of 
a war was daily increasing. 

The non-intercourse act had now, for some time, been re- 
vived against Great Britain ; but it produced no 
1812 change in her policy. The last decisive step re- 
mained to be taken : and on the 18th of June, 
congress passed an act, by which war was declared against 
that nation. 

Soon after the declaration of war, news arrived that the 
orders in council had been repealed. In the beginning of 
May, a formal decree, repealing the Berlin and Milan de- 
crees, had been communicated, by the French government, 
to Mr Barlow, our minister at Paris. This decree bore 
date, the 28th of April, 1811. No explanation was given 
why a knowledge of its existence had been so long withheld 
from the American government; nor has it been ascertained 
to this day, whether the date was a true or a false one. On 
the 20th of May, this decree was communicated to the 
British ministry ; and on the 23d of June, an order issued 
repealing the orders in council. 

But the arrival of this news made no essential alteration 
in the state of affairs. Besides the orders, America had 
other wrongs which remained unredressed ; the British 
would not relinquish the practice of impressments ; and pro- 
posals for an armistice, made by Mr Russell to the British 
ministry, and by admiral Warren to the American govern- 
ment, failed of any success. 

A few months preceding the declaration of war, the ter- 
ritory of Orleans was erected into an independent state, by 
the name of Louisiana, and admitted into the union. 



or THE UNITED STATES. 191 



CHAPTER XXIII 



War commenced under unfavorable circumstances. — Preparations for the 
invasion of Canada. — Campaign of 1813. — Hull's surrender. — He is 
succeeded by general Harrison. — Battle of the river Raisin. — Massacre 
of prisoners. — Battle of Queenstown. — General Smyth. — Naval 
affairs. — Success of the American frigates. — Session of congress. — 
Re-election of Mr Madison. — Commissioners for negotiating a peace. 
— Taxes. — Blockade of the coast. — Admiral Cockburn. — Naval 
Engagements. — Creek war. — Battle of the Great Bend. — Submission 
of the southern Indians. — Affairs on the Niagara frontier. — York 
taken. — Sackett's harbor attacked. — Battle of Stony Creek. — Battle 
of the Beaver dams. — Wilkinson's invasion of Canada. — Newark 
burned. — Desolation of the Niagara frontier. — Affairs of the north- 
west. — Siege of fort Meigs — Of fort Stevenson. — Perry's victory on 
Lake Erie. — Advance of Harrison. — Battle of the Thames. — Peace 
with the northwestern Indians. 

Many disadvantageous circumstances attended the com- 
mencement of this second war against Great Britain. It 
is true, the population had more than doubled,* and the re- 
sources of the country were in every respect far greater than 
at the beginning of the revolutionary struggle. But thirty 
years of peace left the United States with few officers who 
had seen service; and those few passed the vigor of life, 
and verging fast to the languor and imbecility of old age. 
The evil effects of the policy pursued by Mr Jefferson with 
regard to the army and navy, were now severely felt. And after 
the war was declared, the means of carrying it on with vigor 
and success were yet to be provided. 

For several years preceding, the military peace establish- 
ment had stood at 3000 men ; and the little navy, whose 
gallant achievements have become the pride and boast of the 
country, consisted, at the commencement of the war, of 
only twenty vessels, — ten frigates, and ten of smaller size. 
The government had entertained an idea that the coast 
might be defended by flotillas of gun-boats; and over 150 
vessels of this sort had been provided at a heavy expense. 
But they proved on experiment to be of very little utility. 
A short time before the declaration of war, congress voted 
to fill up the ranks of the existing army to 6000 men, and 
to enlist, in addition, 25,000 regular troops. 

* It was now about oight millions. 



192 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

They authorized the president to accept the services ot 
50,000 volunteers, and to call upon the governors of the 
several states, for detachments of militia, to the amount of 
100,000 men, to be apportioned among the states, accord- 
ing to the militia returns. But troops voted, as the coun- 
try has more than once experienced, are very different 
from troops enlisted, drilled and disciplined ; and the re- 
liance put upon the services of volunteers and militia, 
turned out, with a few exceptions, to be very much mis- 
placed. 

The depredations of the French and English cruisers, 
the embargo and the non-intercourse, had impoverished 
and embittered the commercial part of the union ; and 
the maritime states, as they had been little pleased with the 
preceding measures of government, so, for the most part, 
they were decidedly opposed to the declaration of war. 
This opposition originated in the dread of losing their re- 
maining commerce ; and in the apprehension that the fish- 
eries would be interrupted ; a large portion of the people 
deprived of their usual means of subsistence; and the towns 
and villages on the coast plundered and destroyed. These 
gloomy apprehensions were in some measure realized ; but 
the dread of an alliance with Fiance, which had great 
weight with the opposition, and ¥ hich was always before 
their eyes, whenever a declaration of war against Great 
Britain was talked of, proved in the event to be quite 
chimerical. 

The act declaring war, passed the house, by a vote of 
seventynine to fortynine, and the senate by a vote of nine- 
teen to thirteen. It was no sooner approved by the pres- 
ident, than a party was organized, including by far the 
greater part of the federalists, with some additional mem- 
bers, which took the name of the peace farty. This 
party endeavored to compel the government to make peace, 
by raising every possible obstruction to the prosecution of 
the war. Their intention was no doubt good ; yet as the 
country was actually involved in war, it i=eems to have 
concerned the national hoi or, that the contest should be 
prosecuted with \igor Zixxd effect ; and the conduct of the 
peace party, however well intended, exhibited at least as 
much of party spirit as of patriotism. 

The method proposed by i^Ir Gallatin, the secretary of 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 193 

the treasury, to raise the necessary funds, was certainly ju- 
dicious. The customs on imports, hitherto the principal 
source of revenue, would of course, be much diminished 
by the war. Mr Gallatin proposed, by doubling the exist- 
ing duties, and by laying the necessary internal taxes, to 
raise an annual revenue sufficient to pay the ordinary ex- 
penses of government, and the interest of such sums as it 
would become necessary to borrow ; and to support the 
war, by a series of loans. But internal taxes were very un- 
popular, and congress was slow in imposing them ; — and 
so large a proportion of the merchants and capitalists were 
opposed to the war, that of the first loan proposed by gov- 
ernment, not much more than half was subscribed. The 
deficiency was supplied by the issue of treasury notes, 
which soon began to pass at a large discount. 

The earlier military operations of the American armies 
were directed by officers, who seemed to carry with them 
a certain authority, from having served in subaltern situa- 
tions during the revolutionary w^ar. But these ancient 
generals entirely disappointed the hopes of the country, 
and brought such disgrace upon the American arms, as 
could only be wiped away by the brilliant achievements of 
those younger officers, who were formed in the course of the 
war, and who became so distinguished towards its close. 

The British had in Canada, a force of 6000 regular 
troops ; the provincial militia were zealous in the cause ; 
and extensive alliances had been made with the Indians, — 
large numbers of whom were taken into the British service. 
Tecumseh, the famous Shawanee chief, served in the Brit- 
ish armies, with the rank and pay of a brigadier general. 
Three American armies were assembled for t!ie invasion of 
Canada ; one at Detroit under general Hull, governor of 
the Michigan territory ; one on the Niagara frontier, under 
the immediate command of general Van Rensselaer of the 
New York militia ; and one at Plattsburg under ijeneral 
Dearborn, who was commander-in-chief of the armies de- 
signed for the invasion of Canada. 

On the 12th of July, general Hull crossed the river De- 
troit,* with a body of regular troops, three regiments of 
Ohio volunteers, and a regiment of Michigan militia, 

"" The strait which connects lake St Clair with lake Erie. 
17 



194 



AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 



amounting in the whole to 2500 men. On entering Cana- 
da, he published a proclamation, in wiiich he assured the 
inhabitants, that the conquest of their country was inevita- 
ble. He invited them to join his standard, and promised 
in case of submission, protection to their persons, property 
and rights ; but threatened if they opposed him, and es- 
pecially if they co-operated with the Indian allies of Great 
Britain, a desolating and exterminating war. 

The British were posted at Maiden, at the mouth of the 
river Detroit, where was a military post, at which the In- 
dians of the northwest were supplied with arms and am- 
munition, and encouraged in acts of hostility against the 
United States. The whole British force at Maiden, regu- 
lars, militia and Indians, was far inferior to Hull's army^ 
and a vigorous advance would have insured the capture of 
the place. But except one or two slight skirmishes, Hull 
remained inactive in his camp, twelve miles above Maiden, 
till the 8th of August, Vv'hen, much to the chagrin and 
disappointment of his troops, he recrossed the river and 
retired to Detroit. 

On the day of the retreat, a smart skirmish took place 
at Maguaga, between a body of British and Indians, and 
a detachment under the command of colonel Millar, which 
had been sent to escort a party of Ohio volunteers, who 
w^ere hastening to join the American camp. Millar charg- 
ed the enemy with the bayonet, and put them to flight, but 
was obliged to return without effecting his object. On the 
13th, general Brock, the governor of Upper Canada, arriv- 
ed at Maiden with considerable reinforcements ; he imme- 
diately advanced upon Detroit, and on the 15th planted bat- 
teries on the banks of the river opposite the town, and sum- 
moned Hull to surrender, stating that he should otherwise 
be unable to restrain the fury of his Indian allies. This 
threat made a strong impression upon Hull, who seems al- 
ways to have had before his eyes the dread of the Indians; 
but he returned a spirited answer, and the cannonade on 
both sides immediately commenced. At daylight, on the 
16th, the British crossed the river, three miles below 
Detroit. They formed in close columns, and immediately 
commenced their march upon the town. Preparations 
were in the meantime made on the American side. The 
regular troops occupied the fort ; the volunteers were so 



GF THE UNITED STATES. 195 

stationed as to flank the enemy; a detachment under colo- 
nels M'Arthur and Cass, was ready to fall upon their rear ; 
and two twentyfour pounders, loaded with grape, were so 
planted as to sweep the advancing columns. Brock had 
advanced within five hundred yards of the American lines, 
and the artillery was just ready to open upon him, — when 
Hull ordered all the troops to retire within the fort, and 
hung out a white flag in token of surrender. The capitu- 
lation was soon signed ; the troops became prisoners of 
war, and the fort with all its stores, and the whole terri- 
tory of Michigan, passed into the hands of the British.* 

An event so disgraceful to the American arms did 
not fail to excite universal indignation ; and this indig- 
nation was not unmingled with alarm ; for the surrender 
of the Michigan territory left all the Indian tribes of the 
west and north, at liberty to join the British ; an opportu- 
nity which they did not fail to improve. The state of Ohio, 
and the territories of Indiana and Illinois, were more im- 
mediately exposed; but by the spirited exertions of their 
governors, aided by the ready assistance of the state of 
Kentucky, an army of volunteers, amounting to 8000 men, 
was quickly assembled, and entrusted by the president to 
the command of general Harrison. Several expeditions 
were sent against the Indian towns, with considerable suc- 
cess ; though the insubordination of the volunteers too fre- 
quently defeated the plans of their leaders. 

While general Harrison concentrated his forces at San- 
dusky, general Winchester advanced to fort Defiance, and 
descending the Maumee, took post at the rapids of that river. 
About forty miles north of Winchester's camp, on the river 
Raisin, t was the village of Frenchtown, distant more than 
seventy miles from the inhabited parts of Ohio. The inhabi- 
tants of this village sent a pressing message to Winchester re- 

* Hull was afterwards tried by a court martial, found £;uilty of 
cowardice and neglect of duty, and sentenced to be shot. "But the 
execution of the sentence was remitted by the president. He has since 
published a book, in which he attempts to share the disgrace of his sur- 
render with the war department, and with general "Dearborn, who 
had concluded an unauthorized armistice with the governor of Canada 
and thus enabled him to concentrate all his forces against Hull. No 
doubt the American general was badly supported ; but this fact is far 
from justifying his cowardly surrender. 

t A tributary of lake Erie. 



196 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

questing assistance, and informing him that they were threat- 
ened with destruction, by the British and Indian force at Mai- 
den, on the other side of the lalie. Winchester took council 
from his humanity, rather than his prudence, and on the 20th 
of December arrived at Frenchtown with all his forces. He 
had with him near 800 men, but his situation was very dan- 
gerous. Maiden was but twenty miles distant ; and the 
frozen surface of the lake offered to the enemy a smooth 
and solid road. When Harrison heard of Winchester's ad- 
vance, he became much alarmed and pushed on froiii San- 
dusky with his whole army. But he was too late to render 
the assistance he intended. 

On the evening of the 21st January, colonel Proctor, who 
commanded at Maiden, left that place at the head of GOO 
British and Canadians, and about a thousand Indians, under 
the chiefs Splitiog and Roundhead; and the next day, at 
daybreak, made a furious attack on the American camp at 
Frenchtown. The right wing was quickly broken, and 
driven across the river, where it was intercepted by a 
large body of Indians, and entirely destroyed. The 
left wing maintained its position, and fought with great 
valor; but as the enemy had gained the rear, and cut off 
all possibility of escape, general Winchester, who had early 
in the day been taken prisoner by a Wyandot chief, agreed 
to capitulate. One of the express conditions of the capitula- 
tion was, that the prisoners should be protected from the fury 
of tlie Indians. 

Over 300 of the Americans had been slain in the battle"; 
and Proctor marched off with his able-bodied prisoners, 
leaving on the field sixtyfour of the wounded. These un- 
happy sufferers, by the care of the inhabitants of Frenchtown, 
were removed into the neighboring houses ; and the British 
commander gave a promise that sleighs should be sent to 
convey them to Maiden. But early the next morning, a 
party of Indians came into the town, set the houses on fire, 
and tomaliawked, scalped and murdered the wounded men 
in the most barbarous and inhuman manner. 

Such were the early operations on the Detroit frontier. 
The movements of the other armies, designed for the invasion 
of Canada, were attended with similar results., ''J'he army 
of the centre — for so the troops comn:anded by Van Rens^ 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



19: 



selaer were denominated — was stationed along the river 
Niagara.* The number of the troops was about GOOO^ of 
whom 1300 were new levies of the regular army, and the 
rest militia. The British had, on the opposite shore, a force 
of 2400, of which general Brock, after the surrender of 
Hull, hastened to assume the command. 

Previously to the war, it had been a very common idea, 
reiterated in the debates of congress, and in newspaper 
essays, that Canada would prove an easy, and almost blood- 
less conquest. Impressed with this idea, and inspired by 
the success of lieutenant Elliot, who had just arrived to su- 
perintend the naval operations of that quarter, and who had 
succeeded in cutting out two British vessels from under the 
guns of fort Erie, the militia loudly demanded to be led into 
the enemy's territory. Van Rensselaer yielded to their de- 
mands; and on the morning of the i3th of October, a body 
of troops was sent across the river to attack the British bat- 
teries at Queenstovvn. The troops, under the command of 
se'Veral young officers, advanced with great gallantry, and 
carried the batteries at the point of the bayonet. 

General Brock having rallied his troops, and received re- 
inforcements, in his turn attacked the American detach- 
ment. But the forces, under captain Wool, succeeded in 
maintaining their ground ; the enemy was repulsed, and 
general Brock was slain. Thus far, the Americans had been 
successful; but the British were soon reinforced, and gene- 
ral SheaiTe renewed the attack. The militia had viewed 
the conflict from the opposite shore ; and nothing but their 
presence at Quecnstown was needed to secure the victory. 
But the sight of the battle had abated their military ardor; 
and neither the commands nor the supplications of their 
general, could prevail on them to cross the river. They had 
discovered that the constitution did not require them to go 
beyond the limits of the United States. Left thus without 
assistance, the gallant band on the other side of the riv^er 
was soon overpowered, and compelled to surrender. The 
American loss, in tliis battle of Queenstown, in killed, 
wounded and prisoners, fell not much short of a thousand 
men. The loss of the British was about a hundred. 

Van Rensselaer resigned his command, and was suc- 

* The stream which connects lakes Erie and Onlario.. 
17* 



198 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

ceeded by general Smyth. This new commander issued 
two flaming proclamations, in which, after censuring the 
want of skill and science betrayed by his predecessor, he 
called upon the * men of New York,' to join him in a new 
expedition against Canada, in which he assured them of the 
most brilliant success. This call was not disregarded. A 
respectable force of volunteers assembled under general 
Porter, and joined Smyth's regular troops. Boats were col- 
lected, and every preparation made for crossing the river. 
The troops were twice embarked ; but the first 
Dec. time they were landed in order to dine, and the 

second time — they disembarked, and marched into 
winter quarters. Thus terminated the achievem.ents of gen- 
eral Smyth ; not, however, till this bloodless invasion had 
been followed by a duel equally bloodless, between himself 
and general Porler. 

The feelings of shame and disappointment which these 
disastrous attempts on Canada excited, were a good deal re- 
lieved by the brilliant successes of the American navy. For 
thirty years, the British flag had waved triumphantly over the 
ocean ; and in countless engagements with the Spanish, 
French, Dutch and Danes, not a single frigate had been 
lost, in anythir)g like an equal contest. The Americans 
were regarded as a still inferior enemy; and the newspa- 
per bravados about the conquest of Canada, were at 
least equalled by the pompous terms, in which the British 
foretold the annihilation of the American navy. 

Events soon taught them to speak a different language. 
On the 18th of August, off the coast of Labrador, the fri- 
gate Constitution, commanded by captain Hull, fell in with 
the British frigate Gucrriere. After manoeuvring for some 
time to gain the weather-gage, Hull laid his ship within 
musket-shot of the enemy, and opened a tremendous fire. 
In fifteen minutes the rnizen-mast of the Guerriere went by 
the board. The Constitution then took a position to rake 
the enemy, and sweep his decks with grape shot. In a 
little while, the Guerriere's fore and main masts were shot 
away, and the ship lay an unmanageable wreck. Captain 
Dacres had lost fifteen of his crew killed, and sixtythree 
wounded, and was under the necessity of striking his colors. 
The Constitution had but seven killed, and seven wounded. 

On the I8th of October, off* the island of Bermuda, the 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 199 

sloop of war, Wasp, commanded by captain Jones, fell in with 
the British armed brig, the Frolic. On discovering the Wasp, 
the Frolic waited her approach, and an action soon commenc- 
ed. The sea was so rough that the muzzles of the guns were 
often under water. The British fired as their vessel rose, 
and their shot principally went over; the Wasp fired as she 
sunk, and generally struck the hull of her antagonist. 
Towards the end of the action, the ships were so near, that 
in loading, the Wasp's rammers struck the sides of the 
Frolic. Captain Jones now gave the word to board; but 
on gaining the enemy's deck, which was slippery with blood, 
the boarding party was surprised to find no one there, except 
the man at the helm, and three officers. The officers threw 
down their swords, and lieutenant Biddle, who led the 
boarders, leaped into the rigging, and hauled down the 
British colors. Out of a crew of 110 men, only twenty had 
escaped uninjured; thirty were killed. The Wasp had but 
five killed, and five wounded. The victory was well earned; 
but a few hours after the battle, before the ships could be 
got into sailing trim, the Poictiers seventy four came up, 
took possession of both vessels, and carried them into Ber- 
muda. 

On the 25th of the same month of October, the United 
States, commanded by captain Decatur, met,oflrthe western 
islands, the British frigate Macedonian. The Macedonian 
had the weather-gage, and could chose her own distance. 
She kept well off, for some time, but suffered so severely 
from the superior fire of her antagonist, that captain Cardan, 
her commander, changed his plan, and soon came to close 
action. But in this situation, the superiority of the Ameri- 
can fire was more conspicuous than before; the Macedo- 
nian's mizen and main-topmasts were shot away, her rigging 
entirely cut to pieces, and almost all her guns disabled. 
More than a third of the crew were killed and wounded, and 
Cardan was obliged to strike his flag. The United States 
had but six killed and seven wounded, and was so little in- 
jured, as soon to be ready for another action. 

On the 30th of December, off the coast of Brazil, the 
Constitution, now commanded by commodore Bainbridge, 
captured the Java frigate, commanded by captain Lambert. 
The Java was a new ship, and one of the finest vessels of 
her class, in the British navy. Besides her own crew, she 



S(K) AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

had on board a hundred supernumeraries for the supply of 
the ships in the East Indian seas. But her fire was soon 
silenced ; her masts shot away ; her hull pierced in every 
direction ; her captain slain, with sixty of his crew, besides 
near twice as many, wounded. The Constitution, which 
was but little injured, took a position under the bows of the 
Java, and prepared to give a rakin^ fire, when the British 
pulled down the flag, which for some time had been waving 
at the stump of the mammast. The Constitution had nine 
killed and tvventyfive wounded.* 

Besides these celebrated actions, the public and private 
armed vessels had made numerous and valuable prizes ; and 
the enthusiasm excited throughout the country in favor of 
the navy was only equalled by the mortification and disap- 
pointment of the British. Circumstances in palliation of 
their defeat were diligently sought for; the American 
frigates were declared to be seventyfours in disguise ; and 
their crews, it was boldly asserted, were deserters from the 
British navy. It was not the loss of a kw frigates, for 
which the British nation was concerned. Such a loss, 
however serious it might have been to the United States, 
was nothing to them ; but it was the moral effect of these 
defeats ; it was wounded pride, and a just alarm, lest the 
United States, as they had rivalled the commerce of Great 
Britain, so they might come at last to endanger her naval 
supremacy. 

Congress assembled in November. They passed laws 
for the increase of the army, and acts authorizing the con- 
struction of six ships of the line, six frigates and six sloops 
of war. To raise the necessary funds for the operations 
of the ensuing year, authority was given to issue ten mil- 
lions of treasury notes, and to create new stock to the 
amount of eleven millions. Notwithstanding all 
1813 the efforts of the peace party, who supported Da 
Witt Clinton, of New York, as their candidate, 
Mr Madison was re-elected president. He received one 
hundred and twentythree votes, while Mr Clinton had but 
eightynine. Indeed, the strength of the war party had 

* Of the captured frigates, the Macedonian only was brought into 
port; the other two were so injured as to make it necessary to destroy 
them. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 201 

rather increased than diminished. All were delighted at the 
success of the navy, and since the disastrous campaign in 
Canada, many who were in principle opposed to the war, 
thought the national honor concerned in its vigorous prose- 
cution. 

Soon after the re-inauguration of Mr Madison, congress 
j-e-assembled. In his message, the president stated that 
Russia had offered her mediation to bring about peace be- 
tween Great Britain and the United States; and that he 
had accepted the offer, and had appointed John Q-uincy 
Adams, minister at St Petersburg, Albert Gallatin, secreta- 
ry of the treasury, and James A. Bayard, of Delaware, 
commissioners for this purpose. Gallatin and Bayard had 
already embarked for Europe ; but Great Britain refaced 
to treat under the mediation of Russia. She proposed, 
however, to appoint envoys, to meet the American com- 
missioners at Gottenberg, and this proposal was accepted 
by the American government. The place of meeting was 
afterwards changed to Ghent ; and after a good deal of de- 
lay a negotiation was actually comm.enced. 

The principal object of the present session of congress, 
was to impose such taxes as might furnish the government 
with the means of paying the interest on their loans, and 
thus enable them to raise money, on reasonable terms. 
This business had been too long delayed ; but as the ne- 
cessity of attending to it had now become very apparent, 
the necessary bills were passed with little debate, except 
as to the details of the taxes, and without any serious 
opposition. 

The British government, alarmed at the success of the 
American cruisers, resolved to station such a force on the 
coasts of the United States, as should entirely interrupt 
the naval operations of the Americans, by preventing the 
departure or return of their vessels. Admiral Warren was 
sent with a powerful fleet to carry this design into execu- 
tion. He detached rear admiral Cockburn, with several 
ships of the line, frigates and smaller vessels, to cruise up 
and down the Chesapeake. This squadron made great 
havoc among the coasting vessels of the bay 5 and occa- 
sionally landed parties, which plundered the country along 
the shores, and were often guilty of great cruelty and out- 
rage. The villages of Frenchtown, Havre de Grace, 



AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

Georgetown, Fredericktown and Hampton, were destroy- 
ed, and great alarm was felt for the safety of Annapolis, 
Norfolk, and Baltimore. The British attempted to reach 
Norfolk, and for this purpose, made an attack on Craney's 
island ; but they were repulsed with the loss of 200 men. 
Cockburn afterwards left the bay, and continued his rava- 
ges along the coast of the Carolinas. 

Three seveotyfours, and other smaller vessels, block- 
aded the Delaware ; and when the inhabitants of Lewis- 
town refused to supply them with provisions and water, they 
bombarded and attacked the place ; but they were repulsed 
with loss, and soon after left the bay. A squadron under 
admiral Hardy, watched Long Island sound, and blockad- 
ed the frigates United States and Macedonian, which had 
taken refuge in the harbor of New London. Decatur sent 
a challenge to the Endymion and Statira, two frigates 
which composed a part of the blockading fleet, but the in- 
vitation was declined. 

Notwithstanding the presence of a far superior British 
force on the shores of the United States, the American 
cruisers still kept the seas, and made numerous captures. 
On the 25th of February, off Demarara, captain Lawrence, 
in the sloop of war Hornet, met the British armed brig, 
the Peacock. After an action of fifteen minutes, the Pea- 
cock struck her colors, and at the same time hoisted a sig-- 
nal of distress. The Hornet's boats were immediately 
lowered ; but before all the captured crew could be remov- 
ed, the Peacock went down, carrying with her thirteen of 
her own, and four of the Hornet's men. 

Captain Lawrence returned to the United States, and in 
reward for the brilliant achievement of capturing the Pea- 
cock, was appointed to the command of the Chesapeake, 
then lying in Boston harbor. He had scarcely joined his 
vessel, when he received a challenge from captain Brooke, 
of the British frigate Shannon. This frigate, together with 
the Tenedos had for same time been blockading the har- 
bor of Boston, but Brooke gave assurances, that if his chal- 
lenge was accepted, the Tenedos should bear off and keep 
out of sight. Neither the Chesapeake nor her crew were 
in good trim ; and there were many reasons why Lawrence 
should have imitated the prudent conduct of the British 
commanders before New London. But his impetuous 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



203 



courage decided otherwise, and he immediately got the 
Chesapeake under weigh. After the vessels had made 
a considerable offing, the action began at pistol shot dis- 
tance. The fire of both ships was very destructive ; 
and unluckily for the Chesapeake, her commander was 
wounded early in the action, and most of her other officers 
killed or disabled. Her foresail was shot away, so that she 
no longer obeyed the helm; her anchor caught in one of 
the after ports of the Shannon ; and she was thus expos- 
ed to a raking fire. Captain Brooke gave orders to 
board ; and after a severe struggle on the deck of the Ches- 
apeake, her crew v/as overcome, and* she became a prize 
to the enemy. The Chesapeake had fortyseven killed and 
ninety seven wounded ; on board the Shannon, twentysix 
were killed and fifty seven wounded. The exultation of 
the British at this victory, was almost unbounded. Cap- 
tain Brooke was loaded with compliments and honors; and 
the capture of a whole French fleet would not have excited 
half the enthusiasm, called forth by the conquest of a single 
American frigate. 

In the month of August, the British made another prize. 
During the summer, the American brig Argus appeared in 
the British channel, and made great havoc among the ves- 
sels employed in the trade between England and Ireland. 
Two British vessels were sent in pursuit of her; and on the 
i4th of August she was brought to action by the Pelican, 
and surrendered after a close engagement of fortythree 
minutes. 

On the 5ih of September, the United States brig Enter- 
prise, commanded by captain Burrows, sailed from Ports- 
mouth, and the next day she fell in with, and captured, the 
British brig Boxer, coimnanded by captain Blythe. Both 
commanders were slain in the action. Besides the en- 
counters of public vessels, the American privateers cruised 
with good success, and made numerous prizes. 

At the southwest, the United States were called upon to 
encounter a new enemy. A large tract of country, includ- 
ing the southern portion of Tennessee, the western part of 
Georgia, and all the northern part of the present states of 
Alabama and Mississippi, was at this time, possessed by 
four considerable tribes of Indians. These tribes, the 
Creeks, the Cherokees, the Chickasaws and Choctaws, 



204 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

had a population of 60,000 souls, and could muster 6000 
warriors. They had risen, in some degree, above their 
original savage state ; and had begun to give consid- 
erable attention to agriculture and the mechanic arts. But 
they still retained all their barbarous fondness for war ; 
and when Tecumseh, the famous Shawanee chief, came 
among them, and besought them to take hold of the same 
hatchet with their red brethren of the northwest, a con- 
siderable part of all the tribes was persuaded to engage in 
the war against the United States. Several murders were 
committed ; the approach of hostilities became plainly vis- 
ible ; the white inhabitants of the neighborhood were great- 
ly alarmed ; and those of the Tenshaw district, sought re- 
fuge in fort Mimms, a post on the river Alabama. But 
they were deceived in their hope of protection ; for on the 
14th of August, fort Mimms was attacked by a large body 
of Indians. The works were set on fire ; and the whole 
garrison, as well as the women and children, who had 
sought refuge in the fort, perished in the flames, or by the 
tomahawks of the assailants. 

The states of Georgia and Tennessee, were prompt to 
punish this aggression. Georgia raised a brigade of 1800 
men, under the command of general Floyd ; and two di- 
visions of the Tennessee militia, one under general Jack- 
son, the other under general Cocke, immediately took the 
field. The operations of these troops were very much im- 
peded by the usual insubordination of volunteers, the great 
scarcity of supplies and provisions, and the want of co- 
operation between the separate corps. Still, their success 
was very conspicuous. The Indians were attacked and 
defeated with great slaughter, at Tallushatches, Talageda, 
the Hibbilee towns, and Autosee ; great numbers of their 
chiefs and warriors were slain, their country ravaged, and 
their villages burned. 

The last decisive battle was fought at the g'reat bend of the 
Talapoosa, on the 27th of March, 1814. The river in this 
place bends round in the form of a crescent, inclosing a pe- 
ninsula of about 100 acres. At this peninsula, the Creeks 
had concentrated ail their remaining forces, to the amount 
of 1000 men ; and had collected a great store of ammuni- 
tion and provisions. The isthmus leading to the main land 
was about forty yards across, and was strongly fortified by a 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 205 

breastwork of logs and earth. General Jackson had, under 
his command, a force of 3000 men, partly Tennessee militia, 
and in part, friendly Indians, and he resolved to attack this 
last strong hold of the enemy. General Coffee, with 700 
mounted men, and 600 friendly Indians, was sent across 
the river to take a station in the rear of the fort, while 
other corps were so posted, as to cut off every avenue of 
escape. The fort was then assaulted in front ; and after an 
obstinate defence, and a desperate struggle, the breastwork 
was carried. More than 800 of the Indians perished ; and 
this decisive victory put an end to the war. 

The hostile tribes had lost more than 2000 of their war- 
riors ; their towns had been destroyed; the strong places of 
their country had fallen into the hands of the white men; 
and they were glad to obtain a peace, even under condition 
of relinquishing a considerable portion of their territory. 
Afier the battle of the Great Bend, Witherford, the princi- 
pal surviving chief of the Creeks, came in, and surrendered 
himself. He addressed general Jackson in the following 
words. ' I fought at fort Mimms, — I fought the army of 
Georgia, — I did you all the injury 1 could. — Had I been 
supported as I was promised, I would have done you more. 
But my warriors are all killed, and I can fight no longer. — 
I look back with sorrow that I have brought destruction upon 
my nation. — lam now in your power. — Do with nie as 
you please. — I am a soldier.' 

It is now time to turn our attention to the events of the 
war on the Canadian frontier. 

The British had a fleet on lake Ontario, commanded by 
Sir James Yeo ; and commodore Chauncey, the American 
naval commander, had been making great efforts to equip a 
force strong enough to contend for the command of the lake. 
His exertions were attended with such success, that in the 
spring of 1813, he became decidedly superior to his adver- 
sary, and was able to blockade the British fleet in the harbor 
of Kingston. General Dearborn, who would, perhaps, have 
done better had he marched against Montreal, took advan- 
tage of the present situation of affairs, to undertake an ex- 
pedition against York, the capital of Upper Canada. He 
succeeded in getting possession of the town, and in destroy- 
ing the public buildings, and a large quantity of stores ; 
18 



206 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

but he lost 100 men by the explosion of a magazine, and 
among the rest, general Pike, a valuable officer. 

During Dearborn's absence on this ex{Dedition, a British 

force from Kingston made an attack on Sackett's 

May harbor. They were repulsed with loss ; but the 

alarm having being given that the town was in 

possession of the British, a large quantity of provisions and 

naval stores was set on fire and destroyed. 

Towards the end of May, the American army crossed the 
Niagara, and took possession of fort George.* The British 
retreated to Burlington heights, near the western extremity 
of lake Ontario. Generals Chandler and Winder were 
sent with a strong detachment to dislodge them from that 
post. But these officers suffered themselves to be 
June 6 surprised by a night attack on their camp at Stony 
Creek ; in the confusion of the contest, both the 
American commanders were captured ; and the next morn- 
ing, the detachment retreated towards fort George. 

Colonel Boerstler was soon afterwards sent with a body of 
500 men, to attack a post of the British at the Beaver Dams, 
ten miles west of Queenstown. But the force at 
June 24 this place was much stronger than the detachment 
sent against it ; and after a vigorous action, Boerst- 
ler, with all his men, was obliged to surrender. 
Another detachment was sent against the enemy at Burling- 
ton heights. Not succeeding in their attack, this 
Aug. force put into York, which was again plundered 
and burned. An engagement soon after took 
place between the two fleets, but without any decisive 
event. 

The command of general Dearborn had been marked by 
little vigor or success. He had failed to fulfil the expecta- 
tions of the country, and in the month of August, he was 
superseded by general Wilkinson. Not much, however, 
was gained by the change. Wilkinson had, under his com- 
mand, including the troops at Plattsburg, a force of 12,000 
men, and an expedition against Montreal was planned, of 
which great hopes were entertained. One division, under 
Wilkinson, was to proceed down the St Lawrence, while the 

'*' At the entrance of the river into lake Ontario, opposite fort Ni- 
agara. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 207 

Other, under Hampton, was to march from Plattsburg, and 
to join Wilkinson before his arrival at Montreal, Wilkinson 
embarked his troops, and descended the river as far as 
Barnhart's, on the left bank of the St Lawrence, a little be- 
low the northern boundary of the United States. On the 
passage down the river, a considerable action was 
Nov. 11 fought at Williamsburg, between a detachment 
under general Boyd, and a party of the British ; 
the Americans lost about 250 men, and the victory was 
claimed by both sides. W^ilkinson was now waiting the ar- 
rival of Hampton ; but letters were received from that 
general, stating, that the scarcity of provisions was so great, 
that he was under the necessity of falling back upon Platts- 
burg ; but that he would keep the communication open with 
Canada, and in this way would co-operate with the main 
army. 

Wilkinson chose to consider this letter as a refusal to as- 
sist in the attack on Montreal ; he retired to French's mills, 
on the American side of the St Lawrence, where the troops 
went into winter quarters ; and nothing grew out of this ex- 
pedition except a court martial, and abundance of recrim- 
inations between the commanding officers. 

In December, fort George was evacuated by the Ameri- 
cans ; the works were blown up, and the adjacent village of 
Newark was set on fire and burned to the ground. This 
act of wanton cruelty was soon after amply revenged. For 
the British crossed over to the American side; took fort Ni- 
agara ; and burned the towns of Niagara, Levvistown, Black 
Rock, Buffalo, and almost every other village in the vicinity 
of the Niagara river. 

The events of this year, most honorable to the American 
arms, took place at the northwest. After the destruction of 
Winchester's division, at the river Raisin, Harrison employ- 
ed himself in drawing together, and disciplining his new 
levies, and in strengthening the posts at fort Meigs and Upper 
Sandusky. In April, the British and Indian army, under gen- 
eral Proctor, moved down the Maumee, and besieged Harrison 
in his camp at fort Meigs. General Clay, with 1200 Ken- 
tuckians, marched to his relief. Sorties were made from the 
fort ; and the works of the enemy were attacked by the troops 
under Clay, at first, with good success ; but colonel Dudley, 
misled by the ardor of pursuit, suffered himself to be drawn 



208 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

into an ambuscade, where he had 150 men killed, and 500 
taken prisoners. Proctor, however, found himself obliged 
to raise the siege. The fort was entrusted to the command 
of general Clay; and Harrison hastened to Franklin, in 
Ohio, where he employed himself in organizing the new 
levies, and preparing for a vigorous campaign. 

Ever since the beginning of the war, the British had 
enjoyed the command of lake Erie ; and the facility with 
which they could transport their forces from one point to 
another, gave Proctor, and, his ally Tecumseh, a great ad- 
vantage. The skill of Harrison was severely taxed to 
distribute his forces in such a way, as to afford adequate 
protection, to the extensive and exposed frontier on which 
he commanded. 

A post, called fort Stephenson, had been established at 
lower Sandusky, and garrisoned with 150 Kentucky volun- 
teers, under major Crogan. On the first of August, general 
Proctor, with 1200 men, appeared before the fort, and after 
assailing it in vain with his artillery, attempted to carry it 
by storm. But the storming party was repulsed with a loss 
ofl50men, and the British commander thought proper to 
retire. The garrison had but one killed and seven wounded. 

Early in the season, commodore Perry had been ordered 
to repair to Presque isle, and there to build a fleet for the 
purpose of gaining the command of lake Erie. The Ame- 
ricans, at this time, had not a single ship on the lake. 
Timber was abundant; all other materials for ship-build- 
ing, especially naval stores, had to be transported a great 
distance. But the genius and activity of Perry over- 
came every obstacle ; and by the month of August, he had 
equipped a flotilla of nine ships. The Lawrence and Ni- 
agara mounted twenty guns each, but the other vessels were 
much smaller. The strength of the whole fleet was fiftyfour 
guns. 

The British flotilla consisted of six vessels, mounting in 
the whole sixtyfour guns, and was commanded by commo- 
dore Barclay. It lay at anchor under the guns of Maiden ; 
and Perry, as soon as his vessels were equipped, sailed for 
Put-in-bay, opposite that fort, with the design of bringing the 
enemy to action. 

Barclay did not decline the contest. On the 1 0th of Sep- 
tember, the British fleet appeared off Put-in-bay ; and Per- 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 209 

ry immediately got under sail, and stood out to meet it. 
The wind was light ; the fleets approached each other 
slowly ; and for a long time the Lawrence, the commo- 
dore's flag ship, which crowded all sail and pushed on 
without waiting for the other vessels, was obliged to sus- 
tain the whole fire of the enemy's squadron. At length 
she was pierced with shot in every direction, and totally 
disabled. Perry shifted his flag to the Niagara, with 
which he broke the enemy's line ; and the smaller vessels 
now coming up, he succeeded in capturing the whole Brit- 
ish squadron. 

This brilliant and decisive victory gave the Americans 
the command of lake Erie ; and general Harrison hastened 
to improve the advantage. He had been joined by governor 
Shelby, at the head of 3000 Kentucky volunteers ; and 
his forces now amounted to 6000 men. He embarked his 
troops on board commodore Perry's squadron, and sailed 
for Maiden, in expectation of finding the enemy there. 
But Proctor had evacuated that place, as well as Detroit 
and the other western posts, and had retired up the river 
Thames. Harrison immediately commenced a rapid pur- 
suit; and on the 5th of October overtook the enemy in the 
vicinity of the Moravian towns. 

The British were drawn up with their right resting on 
the river Thames, and their left defended by an impene- 
trable morass, and covered by the whole body of their In- 
dian allies. Harrison drew up his forces in two lines ; 
and colonel Johnson's regiment of mounted volunteers, 
was ordered to begin the attack. They made a brillant 
charge, and penetrated the lines of the enemy in every di- 
rection. The British officers threw down their swords, and 
the men surrendered on the field. On the left, Tecumseh 
fought at the head of the Indians, and the struggle was much 
more severe. But that celebrated chief having fallen in the 
contest, and a party of American horse having gained their 
rear, the Indians sought safety in precipitate flight. The 
Americans had but seven killed and twentytvvo wounded : 
the killed and wounded of the enemy were not numerous; 
but 600 of his best troops were taken prisoners. The rest 
of the army was dispersed, and eight pieces of artillery 
with all the stores and baggage, fell into the hands of Har- 
rison. Proctor himself escaped with great difficulty. 



210 AN ABRIDGED HtSTOIiy 

This victory put an end to the Indian confederacy, 
which had been organized and sustained by the genius of 
Tecumseh ; and on the 11th of October general Harrison 
concluded an armistice with several of the principal tribes, 
preparatory to a general peace. 



C HAP T ER XXIV. 



State of affairs at the beginning of 1814. — Campaign of 1814. — Battle of 
Chippawa. — Battle of Niagara. — Assault on fort Erie. — Sortie. — 
Battle ofPlattsburg. — M'Donough's naval victory. — British expedition 
up the Chesapeake. — BatvJe of Bladensburg. — Capture of Washing- 
ton. — Capitulation of Alexandria. — Battle of Baltimore. — Naval af- 
fairs. — Expedition against New Orleans. — Battle of New Orleans. — 
Peace. — Situation of the country. — Hartford Convention. — Bene- 
ficial results of the war. 

In the progress of the war, the American armies had ac- 
quired discipline, and the officers experience. Military 
talent had been developed ; and the generals under whom 
the war began, having in the two preceding campaigns be- 
trayed their utter inefficiency, had now for the most part 
retired from command. 

A great change had likewise taken place in the situation 
of Great Britain. In the spring of 1814, the peace of Paris 
released the fleets and armies so long employed in the war 
against France, and left the British at liberty to direct their 
whole strength against America. Early in May, several 
veteran regiments which had served the Spanish campaigns 
under the duke of Wellington, were shipped for America. 
' Besides the troops destined to invade and ravage the 
coast, the armies in Canada were much strengthened ; and 
preparations were made for invading the United States in 
that direction. 

The forces of Upper Canada were concentrated at fort 
George, under the command of general Drummond. The 
American army on the opposite side of the Niagara was 
commanded by general Brown. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



211 



On the 3d of July, Brown crossed the Niagara, and 
summoned fort Erie, which immediately surrendered. The 
next day, the army moved towards Chippewa, where a large 
body of the enemy was encamped, and the advanced corps 
soon arrived in the vicinity of the British. On the morn- 
ing of the 5th, several skirmishes took place ; and in the 
afternoon both armies were drawn up, in order of battle, 
on a plain, about a mile west of Chippewa. The right of the 
Americans was commanded by general Scott ; on the left 
were the New York and Pennsylvania volunteers, under 
general Porter ; and general Ripley commanded the reserve. 

The British, under general Rial], advanced in three 
columns. Their charge was impetuous, and the brigade 
under general Porter broke and fled in every direction. 
Scott's flank was thus left uncovered. But his troops re- 
ceived the enemy with the coolest intrepidity ; and Tow- 
son's artillery having silenced the British batteries, poured 
a shower of cannister shot upon the infantry, with excellent 
effect. General Ripley hastily advanced to supply the 
place of Porter's fugitive troops ; but before he reached the 
ground, the British were completely routed, and in full re- 
treat. ^They retired behind their works at Chippewa, with 
the loss of 500 men. The loss of the Americans was3r23. 

After this battle, the British fell back upon fort George. 
Brown pushed forward, and took post at Queenstown. He 
afterwards marched upon fort George, and encamped in its 
vicinity, in expectation that the British would come out 
and attack him. But they saw fit to decline the contest ; 
and general Brown returned to his camp at Queenstown, 
and on the 24th, fell back upon Chippewa. 

The next day, he was informed that the British army had 
received reinforcements, and was advancing in full strength. 
General Scott, with his brigade, Towson's artillery, and the 
dragoons, was ordered to march forward with all speedy 
and the rest of the army was soon after put in motion. 
When Scott arrived opposite the cataract of Niagara, he 
discovered a large body of the enemy directly in his front, 
and separated from him only by a narrow wood. He im- 
mediately advanced, and the battle began at six in the af- 
ternoon. The contest had continued a full hour, when 
general Ripley came up, and putting his men into action, 
relieved Scott's exhausted troops. The night closed in ; 



212 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

and the moon, sometimes obscured by clouds, and some- 
times^bursting forth in full brightness, shed an uncertain 
light upon the field. The othes brigades now arrived, and 
the battle was as warmly disputed as ever. The British 
artillery was posted on a commanding eminence beyond the 
reach of the American batteries. It was supported by a 
body of infantry, and kept up a destructive fire on the 
American lines. Ripley gave orders to attack this bat- 
tery ; and colonel Millar advancing at the head of his regi- 
ment in the most gallant style, stormed the height, bay- 
oneted the artillerymen, and turned the guns upon the en- 
emy. In the meantime, major Jessup had passed round 
the enemy's right flank, and a detachment of his reg- 
iment pushing into the rear, made prisoners, general Riall 
and all his attendants. The British were reinforced; they 
made several desperate attempts to recover their artillery; 
but without success. At the last charge, general Porter's 
volunteers threw themselves upon the enemy, broke their 
lines, took a number of prisoners, and amply redeemed 
their behavior at Chippewa. Generals Brown and Scott 
were both wounded, and the command devolved on general 
Ripley. About midnight, both armies retired to their en- 
campments, fatigued and satiated with slaughter. In this 
desperate battle, the best fought and most sanguinary en- 
gagement of the war, about three thousand troops were 
arrayed on either side, and each army lost about nine hun- 
dred men. 

The Americans now fell back on fort Erie ; and general 
Gaines arrived, to take command, till the other officers could 
recover of their wounds. The British advanced, and in- 
vested ^e fort. The fortifications were very imperfect, and 
the enemy's cannon soon made what was judged a practi- 
cable breach. The besiegers had been strongly reinforced, 
and now prepared for an assault. On the 15th of May, 
about two in the morning, two British columns advanced 
against the fort. That on the left was easily repulsed by 
the infantry under major Wood, and captain Towson's ar- 
tillery. The other column was bravely opposed by the ninth 
regiment ; but the assailants, under general Drummond, 
pressed forward with the most determined valor, and twice 
planted their scaling ladders against the parapet. They 
were driven back with great carnage ; but concealed by the 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 213 

darkness of the night, and by the rolling clouds of smoke, 
they passed round the ditch, planted their ladders a third 
time, carried the parapet, and bayoneted the artillerists. 
The British were now in possession of the bastion ; 
preparations were making to drive them back, when all 
operations were for a while suspended, by the accidental ex- 
plosion of a large magazine, which made terrible havoc 
among the enemy, and served effectually to dislodge them. 
The survivors retreated hastily out of the fort. They were 
rallied, and were preparing for a new attack ; but before the 
disordered columns could be re-formed, the Americans 
pressed upon them, and the British were compelled to seek 
refuge behind their own batteries. They had lost over 900 
men, while the American loss was only eighlysix. 

The British still continued before the fort; but on the 
17th of September, a sally was made which obliged them to 
abandon the siege. General Porter gained their rear by a 
circuitous route, while colonel Millar charged them in front. 
The entrenchments were carried, and the batteries all taken. 
After spiking the guns, and destroying the magazines, the 
Americans withdrew behind their own lines. Three hun- 
dred and eightyfive prisoners were made, and the whole 
British loss exceeded 1000 men. General Drummond soon 
after retired to Chippewa; and the American army having 
crossed over to Buffalo, active operations were suspended on 
both sides. 

Meanwhile, a large body of troops had been assembled in 
Lower Canada, under the command of Sir George Prevost, 
with the design of invading the United States by the way of 
lake Champlain. The British forces in this quarter had 
been strongly reinforced by the arrival of several of Lord 
Wellington's veteran regiments, and now amounted to over 
14,000 men. General Macomb was at Plattsburgh, the 
chief naval depot on lake Champlain, where was a great 
quantity of military and naval stores, with 1500 regular' 
troops; and it was upon this point that Prevost directed his 
march. Macomb did what he could to retard the progress 
of the British, by breaking up bridges, obstructing the 
roads, and calling out the militia. Prevost pushed on rapid- 
ly, but with caution, and having overcome every obstacle, 
on the sixth of September he arrived before Plattsburg. 
The Saranac flows through the town, and Macomb was 



214 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

Strongly posted in extensive field works erected on tbe high 
grounds, on the southern bank of that river. 

The American fleet, under commodore M'Donough, con- 
sisting of four armed vessels, and ten galleys and gun-boats, 
mounting in the whole eightysix guns, and manned with 
820 men, lay at anchor in the bay of Plattsburg. The 
British fleet was commanded by captain Downie, and con- 
sisted of four armed vessels, and thirteen gun-boats, mount- 
ing in the whole ninetyfive guns, and manned with 1050 
men. A simultaneous attack, by land and water, v/as resolv- 
ed upon, and the British army awaited the arrival of their 
fleet. On the 1 1th, captain Downie was seen standing round 
Cumberland head, the northern point of the bay of Platts- 
burg. He immediately bore down upon the American 
squadron, and anchored within 300 yards' distance. The 
crews on both sides cheered, and the action began. The 
wind was light, the waters smooth, and there was nothing to 
disturb the aim of the guns. The Cherub, one of the ene- 
my's ships, soon had her cables shot away ; she drifted into 
the American line, and was obliged to surrender. At the 
end of two hours, the Confiance, the flag-ship of the British 
squadron, struck her colors, and the other vessels soon fol- 
lowed her example. Three of the gun-boats were sunk; the 
others escaped down the lake, none of the American vessels 
being in a condition to follow them. 

During the naval action, a heavy cannonade was kept up 
upon the American works; and the British made three sev- 
eral attempts to pass the Saranac, but each time they were 
repulsed; and at night general Prevost retreated with great 
precipitation, leaving behind him his sick and wounded, and 
a great part of his baggage and stores. 

Of all the expeditions undertaken by the British, they 
were most successful in their excursion up the Chesapeake. 
On the lOth of August, a powerful fleet under admiral 
Cochrane, with 6000 troops on board, commanded by 
general Ross, appeared in the bay. Commodore Bar- 
ney, with a fleet of gun-boats, had taken refuge in the 
Patuxent. There were very few regular troops in this part 
of the country; and the defence of the towns and villages 
depended almost entirely on the militia. The British forces 
had landed at Benedict, on the Patuxent, about forty miles 
from Washington. They marched up the river in pursuit 



OF THE UNITED STATES 215 

of commodore Barney's gun-boats ; on the 21st, they reached 
Nottingham; and on the 22d, Upper Marlborough. Com- 
modore Barney's flotilla was two miles further up the river; 
but finding it impossible to escape, he set fire to his boats, 
and proceeded to join general Winder. 

The British were now within sixteen miles of Washing- 
ton, and general Ross formed the daring plan of marching 
upon that city. 

General Winder, with a few regular troops, was posted 
in the vicinity of Washington, and the militia were collect- 
ing in considerable force. The station first occupied by the 
American troops was Battalioii-old-fields, about half way 
between Washington and Marlborough ; but apprehending 
a night attack, on the evening of the 23d they fell back to 
the eastern branch bridge, except general Stanbury's bri- 
gade, which was posted at Biadensburg, four miles in front. 
The president, and the secretaries of state, war and the 
navy were in the camp, and everything seemed to promise a 
vigorous defence. The British marched from Upper Marl- 
borough on ths afternoon of the 23d, and encamped that 
night, three miles in advance of the American encampment 
at Battalion-old-fields. The next morning, they advanced 
against the detachment at Biadensburg. A gallant stand 
was made by the marines under commodore Barney, who 
played their artillery with good efi^ect, against the advancing 
columns of the enemy. Some of the militia regiments made 
a show of fightino;; but they soon broke, and fled in great 
great disorder. The troops that occupied Washington im- 
mediately evacuated the city, and the British marched for- 
v^^ard and took possession. Private property was spared; 
but the capitol and other public buildings, and the ships at 
the navy-yard were set on fire; and property of the United 
States valued at a million of dollars was destroyed. On the 
25th, the British commenced a rapid retreat. 

In the meantime, a British squadron had ascended the 
Potomac; the city of Alexandria was totally destitute of 
any means of defence; and the inhabitants were obliged to 
ransom the town at the expense of all their shipping and 
merchandise. 

Elated by his success at Washington, general Ross resolv- 
ed to make an attempt upon Baltimore. Extensive prepar- 
ations had been made in expectation of an attack. The 



216 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

whole population, capable of bearing arms, appeared in the 
ranks; and an army of 15,000 men, including the militia 
of Baltimore and the neighborhood, was assembled for the 
defence of the city. The main body was posted on the 
heights, three miles in front of the town, where they were 
strongly entrenched and defended by heavy artillery. Gen- 
eral Strieker, with 3500 men, was stationed at Long-log-lane, 
four miles in advance of the principal position. 

On the 22th of September, the British fleet appeared off 
the Patapsco ; and the next morning the troops landed at 
North point, fourteen miles below Baltimore, and immedi- 
ately began to march upon the city. 

A smart action took place between the troops under gen- 
eral Strieker, and the -advancing columns of the British. 
General Ross was in front of his column, with a small re- 
connoitring party, and very early in the action, he was 
mortally wounded by a rifle ball. Strieker maintained his 
ground for an hour and a half, when one of his regiments 
gave way, and he was obliged to fall back upon the main 
body. The British pushed on, and bivouaced that night in 
advance of the battle ground. The next morning, they 
continued their march, and halted about two miles from 
the American position. In the meantime, the British fleet 
had passed up the Patapsco, and bombarded fort M'Henry; 
an attempt had also been made to land and storm the bat- 
teries ; but without success. Discouraged by this repulse, 
and disheartened by the loss of their commander, the 
British did not venture to attack the main body of the 
American forces. On the 14th, they retired to their ships, 
embarked, and soon after left the Chesapeake. 

The incursions of the British were not limited to Chesa- 
peake bay. On the 11th of July, a squadron under com- 
modore Hardy took possession of Eastport ; and all that 
part of Maine which lies east of the Penobscot was occu- 
pied by the enemy. The frigate Adams, which had taken 
refuge in the river, as well as a large number of merchant ves- 
sels, fell into their hands. Several attacks were made along 
the coast of Massachusetts and Connecticut ; and the un- 
protected towns and islands were obliged to make the best 
terms they could. Notwithstanding the blockade of the 
American harbors, several public, and numerous privateer 
vessels were still able to keep the seas. They made 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 217 

many prizes, and several actions were fought wliicli re- 
dounded to the honor of the American navy. The 
Essex, under commodore Porter, after a very successful 
cruise in the Pacific ocean, and a most t^esperate and de- 
termined defence, was taken by two vessels, tlie frigate 
Phoebe and the Cherub, sloop of war, which had been sent 
in pursuit of her. But the British vessel Epervier with 
120,000 dollars in specie on board, was taken in tiie Gulf 
of Mexico, by the sloop of war Peacock ; and the Wasp, 
commanded by the gallant Blakely, besides making great 
havoc among the enemy's merchant vessels in the English 
channel, took first the Reindeer, and afterwards the Avon, 
two public vessels of equal force with herself 

The last eflfort of the British arms was directed against 
the city of New Orleans. Their fleet and army, after leav- 
ing the Chesapeake, sailed for Jamaica, where they were 
strongly reinforced by additional troops, under general 
Packenham, and an expedition against New Orleans was 
resolved upon. Having sailed from the West Indies, the 
fleet rendezvoused in the neighborhood of Ship 
Dec IS island, at the entrance of lake Borgue. This 
lake is a broad and shallow bay which penetrates 
the coast of Louisiana, and is connected with lake Pon- 
chartrain. By means of these two lakes, the water commu- 
nication from the Gulf of Mexico is extended to within a 
few miles of New Orleans. 

The defence of this important city had been entrusted to 
general Jackson. He had a few regular troops under his 
command, but his chief reliance was upon the militia of 
Louisiana and Mississippi, which he called out in a body ; 
and the volunteers from Kentucky and Tennessee, who 
joined him in considerable numbers. The population of 
the city was of a mixed character, and its attachment to 
the American government was considered, by general Jack- 
son, to be quite problematical. As a means of cutting off 
all communication between the city and the enemy, he 
judged it necessary to proclaim martial law. 

A situation was selected, four miles below the town, 
where strong and extensive works were erected for the de- 
fence of the city. The right of this entrenchment rested on 
the river ; the left was covered by an impenetrable Cyprus 
swamp, which extended eastwardly to the shores oflake Pon- 
19 



218 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

chartrain. At cither extremity of the line there was a 
strong bastion, commanded by a battery in the rear ; and 
extensive works were thrown up on the opposite bank of 
the river, in such p. position as to sweep with their artillery 
the approach to the principal entrenchment. 

The British army designed to attack New Orleans, ex- 
ceeded 10,000 chosen troops. They embarked 
Dec 23 at Ship island ; proceeded in boats up lake Borgue; 
landed at the upper extremity ; and took a posi- 
tion nine miles below the city. General Jackson marched 
out to meet them ; and a smart action took place with the 
advance of the British troops. By the sixth of 
1815 January, Packenham had landed all his forces, 
and during the next day preparations were made 
for storming the American entrenchments. A detachment 
was sent across the river to attack the flanking batteries, 
which were manned by a division of Kentucky volunteers, 
under general Morgan; and on the morning of the 8th, the 
whole British army was drawn out for an attack on the Ame- 
rican lines. 

The assault was made in two columns, and was principal- 
ly directed against the two bastions at the extremities of the 
entrenchment. The British were suffered to approach un- 
molesied, till they arrived within three hundred yards; when 
forty pieces of cannon, well charged with grape, cannister 
shot, and musket balls, opened upon them a tremendous and 
most deadly fire. The riflemen, who lay in perfect security 
behind an impenetrable breastwork of cotton bags, took de- 
liberate aim, and almost every shot told with fatal eifect. 
The column on the left was headed by Packenham himself. 
His troops advanced with the most determined courage, and 
although their leader fell mortally wounded as he was cheer- 
ing them on to the crest of the glacis, they planted their 
ladders, mounted the parapet, and after a severe struggle 
with the bayonet, succeeded in gaining possession of the 
bastion. But they were soon driven out of it by the fire of 
the battery in the rear, which swept the bastion with 
continual discharges of artillery. 

The enemy's right column advanced with equal courage, 
and endeavored to turn the American left. But the works 
had been extended as far as the ground would permit ; the 
foremost of the assailants sunk in the morass; and the design 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 219 

of passing round the entrenchment was quickly relinquished. 
The assault was continued an hour and a quarter ; and dur- 
ing the whole of that time, the British were exposed to the 
American fire, which they were unable to return with the 
least effect. Besides Packenham, general Gibbs, the second 
in command, fell early in the action, and general Keane was 
borne off severely wounded. General Lambert, on whom 
the command now devolved, thought it most advisable to 
relinquish the attack. He retired in great confusion, leav- 
ing upwards of 2000 dead and wounded on the field of bat- 
tle. The Americans had but six killed and seven wounded. 

In the meantime, the batteries on the other side of the 
river had been successfully stormed by colonel Thornton, 
and fortyeight of Morgan's men killed, and 178 wounded. 
But general Lambert, discouraged by the ill success of the 
principal attack, immediately withdrew colonel Thornton's 
detachment to the right bank of the river. The British 
maintained their position till the evening of the 18th, when 
they commenced a silent and rapid retreat. They were suf- 
fered to retire without annoyance; for the American gene- 
ral, satisfied with having saved New Orleans, did not choose 
to hazard a defeat, and perhaps the ultimate loss of the city, 
by engaging his undisciplined levies in unnecessary contests 
with the enemy's veteran troops; goaded to desperation as 
they would be, by the extremity of danger. 

To have attacked the British on their retreat, would, in- 
deed, have been a useless effusion of human blood; for 
before the attack on New Orleans, a treaty of peace had 
been negotiated by the plenipotentiaries in Europe. Henry 
Clay and Jonathan Russell had joined the other American 
commissioners, and the treaty was signed at Ghent, on the 
25th of December. The general peace of Europe had ren- 
dered those questions of maritime rights, in which the war 
originated, matters of little immediate importance ; and no 
notice was taken of them in tlie treaty, of which the prin- 
cipal articles related to the boundaries of the two nations. 

The news of peace, though quite unexpect- 
Feb. 11 ed, * produced very general satisfaction. The 

* The American commissioners, in their previous despatches, had 
given but little hopes of peace. But the British agents afterwards 
abandoned certain points, which had hitherto interrupted the progress 
of the negotiation. 



220 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

hope of conquering Canada liad been abandoned for some 
time ; and those who were fondest of the war, were not a 
little alarmed at the idea of encountering, single-handed, 
the whole strength of Great Britain. Enough had been 
done for the honor of the country, and all were delighted at 
the return of peace. 

Indeed, it had become sufficiently evident, that the spirit 
of the people, and the nature of the government were but ill 
adapted to the prosecution of warlike enterprises. It had 
been found extremely difRcult to obtain recruits for the army; 
and the public treasury was in a state of the greatest em- 
barrassment. The large and powerful party, which had 
been from the beginning opposed to the war, did not hesi- 
tate to display its hostility to the administration, at all 
times, and on almost all occasions. An unfortunate differ- 
ence had all along existed, between the president and the 
crovernors of several of the New England states, respecting 
the employment of the militia; and the Convention which 
met at Hartford * on the loth of December, was regarded 
by many as an introductory step to the dissolution of the 
union. 

The bare suspicion of such a- design has drawn down 
upon this celebrated meeting, a torrent of obloquy. But if 
we can pl&ce any dependence on the journals of the conven- 
tion, or on the most positive assertions of its individual 
members, — many of whom were men, whose honor it is im- 
possible to doubt, — they were very far from entertaining any 
treasonable intentions. The assembly seems to have been 
produced by the violent excitement of the times, and to have 
come together without any definite object. This, at least, 
is certain ; that nothing was publicly proposed or avowed in- 
consistent with a true regard to the union of the states. 
Indeed, the principal fruits of the meeting were some pro- 
posed amendments to the constitution. 

The immediate effect of the war, like that of all other 
wars, was no doubt, to impoverish and distress the country. 
Its remote results have been much more salutary. From 

* The Hartford Convention was composed of delegates appointed by 
the legislatures of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut; 
besides two or three members from Vermont and New Hampshire, 
appointed by county meetings. The convention was proposed by the 
legislature of Massachusetts. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 



221 



t"his era we may date the origin, or at least, the more rapid 
growth of American manufactures; and that spirit of inter- 
nal improvements which of late years has reflected so much 
honor on several of the states, was first excited by the ex- 
periments of inland transportation, produced by the exigen- 
cies of the war. 

The patience with which the United States, for several 
years preceding, had endured the reiterated wrongs and 
insults of France and Great Britain, had excited throughout 
Europe a contempt for the American character; and had 
produced an impression, that the love of gain had quenched 
every spark of that energy and spirit, which, in the times of 
the revolution, had obtained for the country independence 
and renown. But when America was seen to carry on 
successfully a naval warfare, against a people who had triumph- 
ed over the fleets of every European nation, the opinion of 
the world was suddenly changed, and the United States rose 
in the estimation of foreigners, to an eminence which they 
have ever since maintained. Nor are the Americans them- 
selves insensible of the true source of their strength and re- 
putation. T!ie navy still continues to be cherished as the 
best arm of the public defence, against the aggressions, or 
insults of foreign states. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



Measures of Congres?. — War with Algiers. — Bank of the United States. 

— State of the currency. — Mr Monroe elected president. — Commer- 
cial speculations. — Emigration. — Indiana admitted into the Union. — 
Mississippi. — Illinois. — Alabama. — 31aine. — Missouri. — The Mis- 
souri question. — Cession of Florida. — Pensions granted to the revo- 
lutionary soldiers. — Canvass for the presidency. — 3Ir Adams chosen. 

— He is succeeded by general Jackson. 

The short time during which congress could continue in 
session after the news of peace arrived, was diligently em- 
ployed in preparing for the new situation, in which the coun- 
try was placed, by this event. The army was reduced to a 
19* 



222 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

peace establishment of 10,000 men;* bat the navy was 
kept up without any diminution ; and the president was au-^ 
thorized to send a squadron into the Mediterranean, for the 
protection of the American commerce in those seas. This 
measure was rendered necessary by the aggressions of the 
Algerines. This piratical regency, notwithstanding the an- 
nual payment of a tribute of 23,000 dollars, had taken ad- 
vantage of the war with Great Britain, in which America 
had been engaged, to commit hostilities against the United 
States, by plundering American vessels, and reducing their 
crews to captivity. Commodore Decatur sailed for the Me- 
diterranean, with a squadron of nine vessels. On the 17th 
of June, o(f Cape de Gatt, he fell in with the Algerine 
frigate Magouda, which was captured by the Guerriere after 
an action of fifteen minutes. A piratical brig of twentytwo 
guns was soon after taken, by the light vessels of the squad- 
ron. Decatur arrived before the harbor of Algiers, at a 
time when the Dey's whole fleet was at sea. The Algerines 
were greatly alarmed at the captures already made, and fear- 
ing for the safety of their other vessels, they were obliged 
to submit to such terms as Decatur proposed. These terms 
were sufficiently honorable to America. No tribute was to 
be in future paid by the American government; all Ameri- 
can captives were to be released without ransom ; and com- 
pensation was to be made, for such vessels and property 
as had been taken or plundered. 
At the next session of congress, an act was passed, estab- 
lishing a Bank of the United States, with a capital 
1816 of thirtyfive millions. The charter of the old 
bank of the United States had been suffered to 
expire in IS 11. During the war, there was no national 
bank; and the want of that aid, which this institution had 
been accustomed to afford, in the fiscal operations of the 
government, was very severely felt. The war had likewise 
brought the currency of the country into a very unfortunate 
and alarming situation. The state banks, allured by the 
enormous premium at which the government borrowed 
money, had made very extensive loans, and had issued, in 
consequence, such an abundance of their own notes, as to 
have become unable to pay specie for them, on demand. All the 

" In 1821, it was reduced to 6000. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 223 

banks south of New England, by an agreement among them- 
selves, had suspended specie payments. The consequence 
of this measure was, a great depreciation in the value of their 
notes; and all the evils of a depreciated paper currency, 
which had been so severely felt during the revolutionary 
war, were now, to a considerable degree, experienced anew. 
Notwithstanding the restoration of peace, the banks were 
very reluctant to re-commence specie payments; and it was 
supposed that the establishment of a national bank, which 
should pay specie for its notes, would have a great tendency 
to compel the state banks to do the same. Influenced by 
these arguments, the bank was incorporated. At first, it 
was not very well managed ; but under a new set of direc- 
tors, it afterwards rose rapidly in the public esteem, and has 
been found to answer all the expectation of its friends. 
On the 4th of March, 1817, Mr Madison was succeeded 

by Mr Monroe. Daniel D. Tompkins, of New 
1817 York, was chosen vice president. Mr Monroe's 

cabinet consisted of John Q,. Adams, secretary of 
state, William H. Crawford, secretary of the treasury, John 
C. Calhoun, secretary of war, Benjamin W. Crownin- 
shield, secretary of the navy, and Richard Rush, attorney 
general. 

Immediately after the conclusion of the war, the people 
of the United States, so long debarred from the ocean, en- 
gaged with much zeal in a great variety of commercial bu- 
siness. But the changes in mercantile affiiirs, produced by 
the general peace in Europe, combined, with other causes, 
to make these speculations in trade, turn out much less for- 
tunately than had been anticipated. The manufactories 
which had been established, and which had reached a very 
flourishing, condition during the war, already began to sink 
under the weight of foreign competition. The complaint 
of hard times was in every body's mouth; and many were 
induced to seek a refuge against impending poverty in the 
fertile regions of the west. During the war, the unsettled 
country, north of Kentucky and south of Tennessee, 
had been frequently traversed, in various directions, by the 
American armies. The fertility of the lands had thus be- 
come known ; and large cessions having been obtained from 
the Indians, a continued and copious flow of emigration 
was now kept up, in this direction. Indiana had been ad- 



S24 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

mitted into the union in 1816, and during the five following 
years, a new state was annually erected. 

The first settlements within the bounds of Indiana, had 
been made at Vincennes, as long ago as the year 1700, by 
the French, who, at that time, claimed the whole valley of 
the Mississippi, as a part of their province of Louisiana. 
While the French kept possession of it, Vincennes was 
nothing more than a military post, and a place of trade with 
the Indians. After the peace of Greenville in 1795, settle- 
ments began to be formed within the limits of Indiana, along 
the banks of the Ohio, by emigrants from the United States. 
It was at first included in the territory northwest of the Ohio. 
In 1800, the territory of Indiana was erected, including 
what is now Indiana and Illinois. At the time of its erec- 
tion, the population of the new territory did not exceed 
6000. In 1809, Indiana was made a territory by itself, and 
in 1810, it was admitted into the union. Its population now 
exceeds 340,000. 

The next state admitted into the union was Mississippi. 

Here, too, the French were the earliest settlers. 
1817 They had planted a colony at Natches in the year 

1716. Thirteen years after, this settlement was 
entirely ruined by the Indians of the Natches tribe. But 
the injury did not pass unrevenged ; for the next year, the 
Natches were nearly extirminated by the French. The town 
of Natches was rebuilt, and some other settlements were 
made in the neighborhood ; but the country remained in a 
great measure, a wilderness till the peace of 1763, when it 
came into the hands of the English. ^I'hey claimed it as a 
part of the newly ceded province of Florida; and several 
settlements were begun by English colonists, along the banks 
of the Mississippi. But these settlements were* greatly im- 
peded, first, by the breaking out of the revolutionary war, 
and afterwards, by disputes \uth the Spaniards. In 1800, 
the country south of Tennessee, and west of Georgia, was 
erected into the Mississippi territory. It then contained ^ 
population of less than 9000; and except a few spots on the 
left bank of the Mississippi, was an entire wilderness, and 
■was occupied by the Creeks, and other powerful tribes of 
Indians. By 1810, the population had increased to 40,000, 
but was still confined to the southwest corner of the terri- 
tory. In 1817, Alabama was separated from the Mississippi 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 225 

territory, and the remaining portion was erected into the 
state of Mississippi. 

Illinois, like the rest of the western country, was first 
explored by the French, and before the year 1700, 
ISIS trading houses had been established at Kaskaskia, 

and some other places. When separated from the 
Indiana territory in 1S09, it contained a population of about 
12,000. Since that time its increase has been rapid. It 
was erected into a state in 1819, and now numbers more 
than 161,000 people; but this population is confined, in a 
great measure, to the southern portion of the state. 

A large portion of tliose fertile lands which were ceded to 
the United States at the end of the Creek war, 
1819 were included within the limits of Alabama; and 

immediately afier the peace, they began to be very 
rapidly peopled by emigrants from the states. Previous to 
the war, this state had been almost a wilderness; but when 
admitted to the union in 1819, it already numbered over 
100,000 people; and its population now exceeds 300,000. 

In 1820, Maine was separated from Massachusetts, and 
erected into an independent state. Some of the towns along 
the coast of Maine are of equal antiquity with any other 
part of New England; but the inland settlements are com- 
paratively new. More than hnlf the state, including all 
the more northern part, is still a wilderness. 

The state most recently admitted into the union is Mis- 
souri. When the subject of the admission of this 
1821 state was before congress, a question arose whether 

slavery should be allowed to prevail there. This 
matter was debated at great length, and with great warmth. 
It produced a serious excitement in every part of the United 
States; but finally ended in this compromise, — that slavery 
should be allowed in Missouri; but should be excluded from 
all the other territory of the United States, west of the Mis- 
sissippi, and north of Arkansaw. 

Besides the extensive settlements that were in progress in 
the country already in their possession, the United States 
obtained, about this tune, an addition to their territories, by 
the cession of Florida. This cession had been for several 
years a subject of negotiation ; and after a long series of 
delays, the treaty was finally ratified on the 22d of Febru- 
ary, 1821. Florida was ceded to the United States as a 



226 AN ABRIDGED HISTORY 

compensation for the spoliations under Spanish author- 
ity, committed on the commerce of the United States during 
the time of the Berlin and Milan decrees; and in consider- 
ation of the treaty, five millions of dollars were appropri- 
ated by the American government, to satisfy the claims of 
the merchants. 

Considered merely as an extension of territory, this ces- 
sion was of but little importance. But a great object was 
obtained in relieving the southern frontier of the United 
States from the depredations of renegade Indians, runaway 
negroes, pirates, and other desperate characters, who were 
accustomed to assemble in Florida, and to carry on their 
depredations, always without being discouraged by the Span- 
ish authorities, and often, with their actual assistance.* The 
naval and maritime advantages to be expected from the pos- 
session of Florida, are also of very considerable impor- 
tance. 

The suffering condition of many of the old revolutionary 
soldiers, had attracted the public attention; and Mr Monroe, 
in one of his earliest messages, had recommended the sub- 
ject to the consideration of congress. A law was accordingly 
passed in 1818, which, with some subsequent modifications, 
still continues in force, for allowing a pension to every surviv- 
ing oflicer and soldier who had served during the revolutionary 
war, for a period of nine months, on the continental estab- 
lishment; and whose circumstances were such as to require 
relief. Twenty dollars a month are allowed to oflicers, 
and twelve to privates; and this act of justice and gratitude, 
though late, and in many respects inadequate, reflects no 
inconsiderable credit upon the nation. 

As the presidential term of Mr Monroe drew near a close, 
a very warm canvass for the succession was commenced. 
Four candidates divided the votes of the electors. — Mr 
Crawford, of Georgia, who had the advantage of being the 
regularly nominated candidate ; general Jackson, whose 
military exploits had made him a great favorite, especially 
at the southwest; Mr Adams, the secretary of state; and 
Mr Clay, the speaker of the house of representatives. Gen- 
eral Jackson had the highest number of votes, but not a 

* The government had been several times obliged to send parties of 
troops into Florida to suppress the depredations of these desperadoes; 
and the famous Seminole war had a similar object. 



OF THE UNITED STATES. 227 

majority ; and according to the provisions of the constitu- 
tion, a choice was to be made by the house of representa- 
tives from among the three candidates having the highest 
number of votes. As Mr Clay had a less number of votes 
than either of his competitors, of course he was excluded 
from the list. His friends united with those of Mr Adams, 
to raise that gentleman to the presidential chair. Mr Cal- 
houn, of South Carolina, was chosen vice president by a 
large majority. He had, at first, been nominated as a can- 
didate for the presidency, but his claims to that office had 
been subsequently withdrawn. 

Several incidents occurred during the four years of Mr 
Adams' administration, which might well deserve a particular 
narration ; but these times are too recent for the voice of 
impartial history. During the whole four years, a warm 
contest was kept up, both in the halls of congress and 
elsewhere, between the friends of Mr Adams and those of 
general Jackson. For some time the event was uncertain ; 
but at the next presidential election, general Jackson pre- 
vailed by a large majority; and on the fourth of March, 
1829, he was inaugurated Seventh President of the United 
States. 



THE END. 



APPENDIX 



NO. I. KINGS OF ENGLAND, FRANCE AND SPAIN, DURING THE 
TIMES OF THE COLONIES. 



Kings of England. 



1485. 


Henry VII. 


14S3. 


Charles VIII. 


1509. 


Henry VIII. 


1498. 


Louis XII. 


1547. 


Edward VI. 


1515. 


Francis I. 


1553. 


Mary. 


1547. 


Henry II. 


1558. 


Elizabeth. 


1559. 


Francis II, 


1603. 


James I. 


1560. 


Charles IX. 


1625. 


Charles I. 


1574. 


Henry III, 


1642. 


The civil war. 


1589. 


Henry IV, 


1649. 


The Commonwealth. 


1610. 


Louis XIII. 


1660. 


Charles II. 


1643. 


Louis XIV. 


1685. 


James II, 


171-5. 


Louis XV. 


1688. 


William III. 


1774. 


Louis XVI. 


1702. 


Anne. 






1714. 


George I. 






1727. 


George II. 






1759. 


George III. 








Kings c 


/ Spain. 




1479. 


Ferdinand and Isabella. 


1665. 


Chailes 11. 


1516. 


Charles I.* 


1700. 


Philip V. 


1555. 


Philip II. 


1746. 


Ferdinand V J 


1598. 


Philip III. 


1759. 


Charles III. 


1621. 


Philip IV. 







Kings of France. 



* This prince was also emperor of Germany, where he bore the title of Charles 
V. and by this name he is most commonly known. 



APPENDIX. 



229 



PRESIDENTS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, 

from 1774 to 1789. 



Peyton Randolph, 
John Hancock, 
Henry Laurens, 
John Jay, 

Samuel Huntington, 
Thomas M'Kean, 
John Hanson, 
Elias Boudinot, 
Thomas Mifflin, 
Richard Henry Lee, 
Nathaniel Gorhara, 
Arthur St Clair, 
Cyrus Griffin, 



From 
Virginia, 
Massachusetts, 
South Carolina, 
New York, 
Connecticut, 
Delaware, 
Maryland, 
New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, 
Virginia, 
Massachusetts, 
Pennsylvania, 
Virginia, 



Elected 
Sept. 5, 1774. 
May 24, 1775. 
Nov. 1, 1777. 
Dec. 10, 1778. 
Sept. 28, 1779. 
July 10, 1781. 
Nov. 5, 1781. 
Nov. 4, 1782. 
Nov. 3, 1783. 
Nov. 30, 1786. 
June 6, 1786. 
Feb. 2, 1787. 
Jan. 22, 1788. 



NO. III. PRINCIPAL OFFICERS UNDER THE FEDERAL 
CONSTITUTION. 

First Administration. 



George Washington, Virginia, April 30, 1789. 
John Adams, Massachusetts, " " 



Thomas Jefferson, Virginia, 
Edmund Randolph, " 

Timothy Pickering, Massachusetts, 

Alexander Hamilton, New York, 



Oliver Wolcott, 

Henry Knox, 
Timothy Pickering, 
James M'Henry, 

Edmund Randolph, 
William Bradford, 
Charles Lee, 



Joh:t Adams, 
Thomas Jefferson, 

Timothy Pickering, 
John Marshall, 

Oliver Wolcott, 
Samuel Dexter, 

James M'Henry, 
Samuel Dexter, 
Roger Griswold, 

20 



Connecticut, 
Massachusetts, 

Maryland, 

Virginia, 

Pennsylvania, 

Virginia, 



Sept. 26, 1789. 
Jan. 2, 1794. 
Dec. 10, 1795. 

Sept. 11, 1789.; 
Feb. 3, 1795. \ 

Sept. 12, 1789. 
Jan. 2, 1795. 
Jan. 27, 1796. 

Sept. 26, 1789.' 
Jan. 27, 1794.' 
Dec. 10. 1795. ' 



President. 
Vice President. 

r Secretaries of 
I State. 

) Secretaries of 
5 the Treasury. 

Secretaries of 
War. 



Attorneys 
General. 



Second Administration. 

Massachusetts, March 4, 1797. President. 

" " Vice President. 

) Secretaries of 
Virginia, May 13, 1800. > State. 

> Secretaries of 
Massachusetts, Dec. 31, 1800. > the Treasury. 

May 13, igoo. ^ Secretaries of 
Connecticut, Feb. 3, 1801.) ^*^- 



230 



APPENDIX. 



Benjamin Stoddert, Maryland, 
Charles Lee, 



May 21, 1798. 



Third Administration. 

Thomas Jefferson, March 4, 1801. 

Aaron Burr, New York, " " 

George Clinton, '' 

James Madison, Virginia, 



" 1805. 

March 5, 1801. 



Secretary of 
the Navy. 

Attorney 
General. 



President. 

Vice Pres- 
idents. 

Secretary of 
State. 



Samuel Dexter, 
Albert Gallatin, 

Henry Dearborn, 

Benjamin Stoddert, 
Robert Smith, 



Pennsylvania, 
Massachusetts, 

Maryland, 
Massachusetts, 



) Secretaries of 
26, 1802. 5 the Treasury. 



Levi Lincoln, 

John Breckenridge, Kentucky 

Caesar A. Rodney, Delaware, 



Jan 

March 5, 1801. 

Jan. 26, 1802. 

March 5, 1801. 
Dec. 23, 1805. 
Jan. 20/ 1807. 



\ Secretary of 
> War. 

Secretaries of 
the Navy 

' Attorneys 
[ General. 



James Madison, 

George Clinton, 
Elbridge Gerry, 

Robert Smith, 
James Monroe, 

Albert Gallatin, 
G. W. Campbell, 
Alexander J. Dallas, 

William Eustis, 
John Armstrong, 
James Monroe, 
W. H. Crawford, 

Paul Hamilton, 
William Jones, 
B. W. Crowninshield 

Csesar A. Rodney, 
William Pinkney, 
Richard Rush, 



Fourth Administration. 

March 4, 1809. 



Massachusetts 

Maryland, 
Virginia, 



Tennessee. 
Pennsylvania, 

Massachusetts, 
New York, 

Georgia, 

South Carolina, 
Pennsylvania, 
, Massachusetts, 



March 6, 1809. 
Nov. 25, 1811. 

Feb. 9, 1814. 
Oct. 6, 1814. 

March 7, 1809. 
Jan. 13, 1813. 
Sept. 27, 1814. 
March 2, 18 J 5. 

March 7, 1809. 
Jan. 12, 1813. 
Dec. 19, 1814. 



Maryland, Dec. 11, 1811. 

Pennsylvania, Feb. 10, 1814. 



President. 

> Vice Pres- 
5 idents. 

) Secretaries of 
5 State. 

f Secretaries of 
k the Treasury. 



Secretaries of 
of War. 



Secretaries of 
the Navy. 

Attorneys 
General. 



Fifth Administration. 

James Monroe, March 4, 1817. President. 

Daniel D. Tompkins, New York, Vice President. 

John Quincy Adams, Massachusetts, March 5, 1817. < State 



APPENDIX. 



231 



William H. Crawford, 



John C. Calhoun, South Carolina, March 5, 1817. \ ^^^^arJ °^ 



B. W. Crowninshield, 

Smith Thompson, New York, Nov. 30, 1818. 

Samuel L. Southard, New Jersey, Dec. 9, 1823. 

Richard Rush, 

William Wirt, Virginia, Dec. 16, 1817. 



f Secretaries of 
i the Navy. 

> Attorneys 
5 General. 



Sixth Administration. 



John Quincy Adams, 
John C. Calhoun, 

Henry Clay, 

Richard Rush, 

Jajnes Barbour, 
Peter B. Porter, 

Samuel L. Southard, 
William Wirt, 



March 4, 1825. President. 
" " Vice Presiden t' 

Kentucky, March 8, 1825. [ ^''if^'y ^^ 

March 7 « f Secretary of 
March 7, ^ j^g Treasury. 

Virginia, March 7, " ) Secretaries of 

New York, May 26, 1828. 5 War. 

C Secretary of 
I the Navy, 

C Attorney 
/ General. 



Andrew Jackson-, 

John C. Calhoun, 

Martin Van Buren, 
Edward Livingston, 

Samuel D. Ingham, 
Louis M'Lane, 

John H. Eaton, 
Hugh L. White, 

John Branch, 
Levi Woodbury, 

John M'P. Berrien, 
R. B. Taney, 



Seventh Administration. 
Tennessee, March 4, 1829. 



New York, 
Louisiana, 

Pennsylvania, 
Delaware, 

Tennessee, 

North Carolina, 
N. Hampshire, 

Georgia, 
Maryland, 



1829. 
1831. 



March 6 
May, 

March 6, 1829. 
May 1831. 

March 9, 1829. 
1831, 



1828. 
1831. 



March 9, 
May, 

March 9, 1829. 
1831. 



President. 

Vice President. 

> Secretaries of 
5 State. 

Secretaries of 
the Treasury. 

C Secretaries of 
I War. 

) Secretaries of 
3 the Navy. 

C Attorneys 
l General, 



Chief Justices of the United States. 

John Jay, New York. Sept. 26, 17S9 

William Gushing, Massachusetts. Jan. 22, 1796. 

Oliver Ellsworth, Connecticut. March 4, 1796. 

John Marshall, Virginia. Jan. 27, 1801. 



232 



APPENDIX. 



Governeur Morris, 
James Monroe, 
Charles C. Pinkney, 
Charles C. Pinkney, 
Elbridge Gerry, 
John Marshall, 
Oliver Ellsworth, 
William Vans Murray, 
William R. Davie, 
James A. Bayard, 
Robert R. Livingston, 
John Armstrong, 
Joel Barlow, 
William H. Crawford, 
Albert Gallatin, 
James Brown, 
William C. Rives, 



Ministers to France. 

of New Jersey. 

" Virginia. 

" South Carolina. 

" Massachusetts. 
" Virginia. 
" Connecticut. 
" Maryland. 
" North Carolina. 
" Delaware. 
"New York. 

" Connecticut. 

" Georgia. 

" Pennsylvania. 

" Louisiana. 

" Virginia. 



Jan. 12, 1792. 

May 28, 1704. 

Sept. 9, 1796. 

June 5» 1797. 



Feb. 26, 1799. 



Feb. 

Oct. 

June 

Feb. 

April 

Feb. 

Dec. 



19, 1801. 

2, 1801. 

30, 1804. 

27, 1811. 
9, 1813. 

28, 1815. 
9, 1823. 

1829. 



Ministers to Great Britain. 



Governeur Morris, 
Thomas Pinkney, 
John Jay, 
Rufus King, 
James Monroe, 
James Monroe, 
William Pinkney, 
William Pinkney, 
John Quincy Adams, 
Richard Rush, 
Rufus King, 
Albert Gallatin, 
James Barbour, 
Louis McLane, 



of New Jersey. 

" South Carolina. 

" New York. 

" Virginia. 

" Maryland. 

" Massachusetts. 

" Pennsylvania. 

" New York. 

" Pennsylvania,. 

" Virginia. 

" Delaware, 



Oct. 

Jan. 
April 
May 
April 

May 

Feb. 
Feb. 
Dec. 
May 
May 
May 



13, 1789. 
12, 1792. 

19, 1794. 

20, 1796. 
18, 1803. 

12, 1806. 

26, 1809. 
28, 1815. 
16, 1817. 
5, 1825. 
18, 1826, 
23, 1828. 
1829. 



NO. IV. POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES, 



1776. 

1790. 

1800. 
1810. 
1820. 
1830. 



Estimated at 
Census, 



3,000,000. 
3,929,326. 
5,319,762. 
7,239,903. 
9,708,135. 
13,000^000. 



QUE STIONS 



CHAPTER I. 

1. When was America discovered ? 

2. What effect did the discovery produce in Europe ? 

3. In what did the claims of England to the continent of North 

America originate ? 

4. Give an account of that voyage. 

5. Who discovered Florida ? 

6. What claims were founded on this discovery ,' 

7. In what did the claims of France originate ? 

8. Give an account of those voyages. 

9. Who discovered the river Mississippi ? 

10. Give an account of Soto's expedition. 

11. What is said of the Newfoundland fisheries ? 

12. What was the appearance of the country ? 

13. By whom was it inhabited ? why were they called Indians .' 

14. Give an account of the inhabitants. 

15. Where, when, and by whom was the first settlement attempted to 

be made within the present limits of the United States ? 

16. Give an account of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and of his proceedings. 

17. Give an account of Raleigh's attempts to plant a colony. 

18. How was the use of tobacco introduced into England ? 

19. What is said of Gosnold's voyage ? of Richard Hacluyl ? 

20. What companies were formed ? when ? and by whom ? 



CHAPTER II. 

1. What was done by the London company ? 

2. Where did the colony land ? what is the present state of Jamestown ? 

3. Give an account of captain Smith. 

4. What effect was produced by the supposed discovery of gold dust ? 

5. Who first explored Chesapeake bay ? 

6. Give an account of the voyage of Gates, Somers and Newport ? 

what sort of settlers did they bring ? 

7. What was the consequence of their coming ? 

8. Why did Smith leave Virginia ? what was the state of the colony 

when he left it? to what state was it afterwards reduced? 

9. What important events happened in 1613 ? 

10. What was the situation of the colony at the arrival of Argal? 

11. Who called the first colonial assembly ? of whom did it consist ? 

12. What is said about the importation of females ? 

13. What and when was the beginning of Negro slavery ? 

14. What was now the extent of the settlements ? 

80* 



234 QUESTIONS. 

15. Give an account of the Indian war. 

16. What is said of the Indians of Virginia ? 

17. Who were the first royai governors ? what is said of Sir William 

Beriieley ? 
IS. What was the situation of Virginia during the civil wars ? 
19. Give an account of the settlement of Maryland. 



CHAPTER III. 

1. What were the proceedings of the Plymouth company ? 

2. In what originated the name of New England .' 

3. Give an account of the Puritans. 

4. What is said of Mr Robinson's congregation ? to what sect did 

they belong ? 

5. Give an account of their voyage to America. 

6. Where did they land ? what did they do before landing.^ 

7. Give an account of their settlement — what was the name of their 

colony ? by what name are they often called ? 

S. What is said of their intercourse with the Indians ? 

9. Who was their first governor .? their military leader ? give an ac- 
count of his proceedings. 

10. What was the situation of the colony at the end of four years ? 

11. What is said of the settlers at Plymouth ? 

12. What other attempts to colonize New England .' 

13. Whence originated the colony of Massachusetts bay .-' 

14. Where, when, and by whom was the first settlement made ? 

15. Where was the next settlement made ? 

IG. Who arrived the next year ? where did they land ? did they con- 
tinue there ? 

17. What towns were earliest settled ? 

18. What is said of the sufferings of the earlier settlers? of their 

character .' 

19. What arrangement was made for enacting laws, &c ? 

20. Give an account of the colony of Connecticut — its government. 
2i. To whom had the terrhory been granted? what became of their 

grant ? 

22. Give an account of Roger Williams — of the colony of Providence. 

23. What is said of the Pequods? of the Narragansets ? 

24. What was the origin of the Pequod war? 

25. What was done by the Connecticut troops ? by those of Massa* 

chusetts ? 
28. What is said of this war ? 

27. Give an account of Mrs Hutchinson — of the court of elections in 

1637 — of the synod at Cambridge. 

28. Give an account of the settlement of Rhode Island — of New 

Hampshire. 

29. Give an account of the colony of New Haven. 

30. When and why did emigration to New England cease ? 

31. What was now the state of the colonies ? 

32. What combination did they form ? for what reasons ? 

33. What is said of the province of Maine ? 



QUESTIONS. 235 

34. What is said of the New England Indians? what efforts were 

made in their behalf? by whom ? with what success ? 

35. Give an account of the persecution of the Quakers. 

36. Was persecution for religious opinions confined to New England? 

37. What was the number and situation of the colonies at the Res- 

toration ? 



CHAPTER IV. 

1. How was the restoration regarded in the colonies ? 

2. Give an account of the navigation act — how was it regarded ? 

3. Give an account of the province of New Netherlands — of the 

Swedish settlements on the Delaware. 

4. To whom was this territory granted? what was done inconse- 

quence of the grant? 

5. Give an account of the proceedings of governor Nicolls. 

6. What is said of New York ? 

7. Give an account of the grant and settlement of New Jersey ? 

8. What was the next colony ? 

9. Give an account of its settlement. 

10. What was the state of Virginia ? 

11. Give an account of Bacon's rebellion. 



CHAPTER V. 

1. What commissioners were appointed to visit New England ? 

2. Give an account of king Philip. 

8. What was the origin of the war with the Indians ? 

4. Where was the first attack made ? 

5. Give an account of the first expedition against Philip. 

6. Which side did the Narragansets take ? 

7. Give an account of the progress of the war. 

8. W^hat other tribes took part in it ? 

9. What was done by the commissioners of the colonies ? 

10. Give an account of the attack on the Narragansets. 

11. What expeditions were made from Connecticut? who was taken 

prisoner ? 

12. How was the war ended ? what was its effect on New England ? 

what other troubles did Massachusetts experience? 

13. When and why was New Hampshire made a distinct province? 

14. Give an account of the settlement of Pennsylvania. 

15. What progress did this colony make ? 

16. What is said of Delaware ? 

17. What is said of the government of Charles II. and James II. ? 

18. Who was appointed governor of New England ? 

19. How was he received ? 

20. How did his government terminate ? 

21. What was done at New York ? 

22. What became of Leisler and Milbourn ? 

23. What is said of the new charter of Massachusetts ? 

24. Give an account of the Salem witchcraft. 



236 QUESTIONS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

1. What was the effect upon the colonies on the accession of king 

William ? 

2. What is said of the attempts of the French to plant colonies in 

America ? 

3. How many colonies had they ? what were they ? 

4. Whatis saidof Acadie ? of Canada? 

5. What was the relative strength of the French and English colonies ? 

6. What enabled the French to resist so long the efforts of the English 

to conquer Canada ? 

7. Give an account of the Five Nations. 

8. What, at this time, was the population of the colonies ? 

9. Who was governor of Canada ? what expeditions did he fit out ? 

with what success ? 

10. For what did commissioners meet at New York ? what is said of 

this meeting ? 

11. What were the events and termination of this war ? 

12. When and why was war renewed ? 

13. Give an account of the destruction of Deerfield — what other towns 

destroyed ? 

14. What expeditions were undertaken by the English ? 

15. Where and when was peace concluded ? 

16. What was the situation of the middle colonies ? of Carolina ? 

17. What conspiracies were formed for the destruction of Carolina ? 

18. By what other circumstance was the tranquillity of CaroUna dis- 

turbed ? 

19. How was this evil remedied ? 



CHAPTER VII. 

1. What was the situation of New England? 

2. What new war with the Indians ? how did it originate ? 

3. What was its termination ? 

4. What controversy in Massachusetts ? 

5. W^hat was its event ? 

6. What new colony settled ? by whom ? for what purpose ? 

7. What wei-e the incidents of the Spanish war ? of the third French 

and Indian war? 

8. What expedition was undertaken ? by whom ? by whom com- 

manded ? what was its event ? 

9. How were the colonies alarmed ? 

10. When and where was peace concluded ? 



CHAPTER VIII. 

1. What dispute existed between the French and English ? 

2. Give an account of Louisiana. 

3. What design was entertained by the French? what was the rela- 

tive strength of the French and English colonies ? 



QUESTIONS. 237 



4. What measures did the French take ? 

5. What was done by the governor of Virginia ? what answer was 

sent ? 

6. What was the next step ? what was the event of the expedition ? 

7. What scheme was entertained ? give an account of it. 

8. What colony first took the field ? give an account of the French 

neutrals ? 

9. What was done with them ? 

10. Who was appointed to command in America? what expeditions 

were planned ? by whom ? 

11. Give an account of the first — of the second — of the third. 

12. What forts taken by Montcalm ? where were these forts situated ? 

13. Who succeeded Braddock ? how many forces had he under his 

command ? 
1-4. What expedition was first undertaken ? Avhat attempt was made by 
Abercrombie ? what was the result ? 

15. What fort taken by the French ? where situated ? 

16. What fort taken the next year ? 

17. Who commanded the expedition against Quebec .' 

18. What is the situation of that city ? 

19. What attempts were made by Wolfe ? what plan was finally resolv- 

ed upon ? 

20. Give an account of the battle — what was its result ? 

21. Give an account of the battle of Sillery. 

22. What expedition undertaken by the English ? what was its result ? 

23. What war at the south ? 

24. When was peace concluded .' 

25. What war with the Indians ? who was their leader ? what was its 

event ? 

CHAPTER IX. 

1. What were the expectations of the colonists at the termination of 

the French war ? 

2. How were these expectations fulfilled ? 

3. What was the nature of the connexion between the colonies and 

the mother country ? 

4. What authority w^as exercised by the English parliament ? 

5. What rights were claimed by the colonists ? 

6. Give an account of the stamp act. 

7. How was it received in America .'' 

8. What measure was taken by the colonists ? 

9. Who was president, and what was done ? 

10. W^hen was the stamp act repealed ? 

11. What other acts were passed? 

12. What was the consequence ? 

13. What measure was taken by the British ministers ? 

14. Was it satisfactory ? 

15. What event occurred at Boston ? 

16. Give an account of the insurrection in North Carolina. 

17. Was this event connected with the opposition to the British min- 

istry ? 



QUESTIONS. 

18. What measure was taken to introduce tea into the colonies? 

19. How were the vessels received ? 

20. What was done at Boston ? 

21. What acts of parliament were passed in consequence ? 

22. What measure taken by the colonists ? 

23. Who was president of the congress, and what did it do? 

24. Give an account of the battle of Lexington — what was the con- 

sequence of this battle ? 

25. What important forts were seized, and by whom ? 

26. Give an account of the battle of Bunker hill. 

27. W^hat measures were taken by congress ? 
2S. What is said of the Canadians ? 

29. Give an account of Montgomery's proceedings — of Arnold's. 

30. Describe the assault on Quebec. 

31. What became of the American army ? 

32. How was the siege of Boston terminated ? 

33. Give an accountof the attack on Charleston? 

34. Who moved the question of independence ? 

35. By whom was it advocated ? by whom opposed? 
86, When was independence declared ? 

37. Who wrote the declaration ? 

38. What was the population of the United States, and the extent of 

the settlements ? 



CHAPTER X. 

1. Who succeeded to the command of the British forces? 

2. Towards what point did he move ? 

3. How large was his army ? of whom was it composed ? 

4. What was the strength and state of the American army ? 

5. Give an account of the battle of Long Island. 
C. What was the consequence of this battle ? 

7. What movement made by Howe ? 

8. What step did Washington take ? 

9. What happened on the march to White Plains ? 

10. What design formed by Howe ? 

11. Give an account of the storm of fort Washington. 

12. What step taken by Washington ? 

13. What station occupied by the American army ? 

14. What mes^ge sent to Lee ? how did he execute it? 

15. What was the situation of the British army? 

16. Give an account of the battle of Trenton. 

17. What were the consequences of this battle ? 

18. How were the armies situated the evening preceding the battle of 

Princeton ? 

19. Give an account of the battle of Princeton. 

20. What step taken by Cornwallis? 

21. Wliat was the state of the American army? 

22. What position taken by Washington? 

23. What circumstance caused Washington great embarrassment ? 

24. What measures taken for improving the army ? 

25. What was Washington's condition while encamped at Morristown? 

26. What station on the Hudson occupied by the Americans ? 



QUESTIONS. 239 

27. What expeditions undertaken by the British ? 

28. What by the Americans? 

29. What movement made by Washington : 

30. What were the proceedings of Howe ? 

31. Where did the British land ? at what distance from Philadelphia ? 

32. What position taken by Washington ? 

33. Give an account of the battle of Brandywine ? 

34. What is said of the behaviour of the troops ? 

35. What movements made by Washington ? what loss experienced ? 

36. What position taken by the two armies ? what was the conse- 

quence ? 

37. What defences on the river Delaware ? 

38. Give an account of the battle of Germantown. 

39. To what was the defeat of the Americans owing ? 

40. To what was the attention of the armies now directed ? 

41. Give an account of the attack on the forts. 

42. What was the final result ? 



CHAPTER IX. 

1. How were affairs situated at the north in June, 1776 ? 

2. Who commanded the lake ? 

3. What measures taken by Carleton .' 

4. Give an account of the naval action. 

5. What step taken by Caileton ? 

6. What became of tlie northern army ? 

7. What plan formed by the British cabinet? 

8. What was the state of the northern army ? 

9. What fortress invested by Burgoyne ? by whom commanded ? 

10. What measure taken by St Clair ? 

11. Vf'hat was the result of the retreat? 

12. Describe the action at Hubberton. 

13. Where did the American forces concentrate ? 

14. What was the nature of the country between this place and 

Skenesborough ? 

15. What measures taken by Schuyler? 

16. "What reinforcements sent to the northern army ? 

17. What expedition undertaken by St Leger ? 

18. What was done by Schuyler ? 

19. What attempt made by Burgoyne ? for what reason ? 

20. Give an account of the action. 

21. How did St Leger's expedition terminate ? 

22-. Who succeeded Schuyler ? why was he superseded ? 

23. What action fought ? give an account of it. 

24. What other action ? describe the battle. 

26. What attempt made by Burgoyne ? 

27. How did his expedition terminate ? 

28. What successes of the British on the Hudson ? 

29. What became of the northern army ? 

SO. Where did Washington go into winter quarters ? describe the 
place. 



240 QUESTIONS. 



CHAPTER XII. 

1. What is said of the states ? of congress? of the confederation ? 

2. What was the great defect of this system ? 

3. What is said of the requisitions of congress ? 

4. How were funds raised to support the war ? 

5. What is said of the loyalists ? where were they most numerous ? 

6. W^hat is said of the Indians ? what tribes were most to be dreaded ? 

7. Which side did the Six Nations take ? of what atrocities were they 

guilty ? 

8. What was done by the Creeks and Cherokees ? 

9. What difficulties relating to the exchange of prisoners ? 

10. What is said of maritime affairs ? 

11. What had been the effect of the non-importation agreements ? 

12. What success had the American cruisers ' 

13. What was the condition of the army ? 

14. What measures was VV^ashington driven to in order to support his 

army ? 

15. What efforts did he make ? 

16. What combination formed ? by whom ? for what purpose ? 

17. What effect did the resistance of the states produce in Europe ? 

18. Who had been sent commissioners to France ? 

19. What success did they meet with ? 

20. What measure taken by lord North ? 

21. What terms were offered ? how were they received ? 

22. What offer made to Mr Read ? what was his reply ? 



CHAPTER XIII. 

1. What was the situation of the two armies at the beginning of the 

year 1773 ? 

2. Who succeeded to the command of the British army ? 

3. What resolution did he take ? 

4. By what road did he march ? what measure taken by Washington ? 

5. \Vh at battle fought? desciibeit. 

6. What loss did the British experience during the march ? 

7. What aids arrived from France ? 

8. What expedition undertaken ? 

9. What was the event ? 

10. Give an account of Wyoming, and the destruction of the settlements 

there. 

11. To what quarter was the theatre of war now transferred ? 

12. What is said of the southern campaigns ? 

13. Give an account of the conquest of Savannah. 

14. Who was appointed to the southern department? 

15. In what state did he find affairs ? from whom did he receive as- 

sistance? 

16. What plan of operations did he form ? 

17. What is said of the loyalists of the Carolinas ? 
IS. Give an account of the action at Briar's creek. 



QUESTIONS. 241 

19. What enterprise undertaken by Prevost ? with what success ? 

20. What was done by the British armies further north ? 

21. What British posts taken .' 

22. Who was sent against the Six Nations ? with what success ? 

23. What assistance arrives from France ? 

24. What expedition undertaken ? what was the event ? 

25. What nation takes part in the war ? 

26. What prevented Spain from acknowledging the independence of 

the United States .' 

27. Who was sent minister to that court ? 



CHAPTER XIV. 

1. "What expedition undertaken by Sir Henry Clinton ? 

2. Give an account of the operations against Charleston. 

3. What was the consequence of the surrender of Charleston ? 

4. Who maintained a partisan warfare against the British ? 

5. What preparations for forming a new army ? 

6. Who succeeded Lincoln in the command of the southern depart- 

ment ? 

7. Give an account of the battle of Camden. 

8. Give an account of the treason of Arnold. 

9. Who succeeded Gates in the command of the southern army ? 

10. What measure taken by Greene ? 

11. What attempt made in consequence by Cornwallis ? 

12. Give an account of the battle of the Cowpens. 

13. Describe the retreat of the Americans. 

14. Give an account of the battle of Guilford. 

15. What measure taken by Greene after this battle ? 

16. What measure taken by Cornwallis ? 

17. Give an account of the battle of Hobkirk Hill. 

18. What posts taken by the Americans ? 

19. Give an account of the siege of Ninetysix. 

20. Where was the last battle fought? give an account of it. 

21. What is said of the conduct of general Greene ? of the army ? of 

the people at large ? 



CHAPTER XV. 

1. What occasioned the revolt of the Pennsylvania line ? 

2. How did the revolt terminate ? 

3. What changes made in the executive departments .' 

4. What is said of Robert Morris ? 

5. With whom did Cornwallis unite after entering Virginia 

6. To whom was the defence of this state entrusted ? 

7. What movements made by the two armies ? 

8. What position finally taken by the British ? 

9. What expedition medidated by Washington ? 
10. What plan substituted ? 

21 



242 QUESTIONS, 

11. What expedition sent against Connecticut? 

12. Give an account of the capture of fort Griswold. 

13. By whom was the allied army commanded ? 

14. What is the situation of Yorktown ? 

15. Give an account of the siege ? how did it terminate .'^ 

16. V/hat vote passed by the British house of Commons ? 

17. By whom was the treaty of peace negotiated ? 

18. By what circumstance was the negotiation retarded ? 

19. When was the peace proclaimed ? 

20. What is said of the revolutionary struggle ? 

21. What discontents prevailed in the army? how were they sup- 

pressed ? 

22. What is said of the half pay of the officers ? 

23. What pay did the soldiers receive on being disbanded ? 

24. Where and when did Washington resign his commission r 



CHAPTER XVI, 

1. What is said of the confederation ? of congress ? 

2. What difficulties existed with Great Britain ? 

3. What is said of the trade of the United States ? 

4. What was the state of public sentiment ? 

5. What commissioners appointed ? by whom ? for what purpose : 

6. What did they recommend ? what was done in consequence ' 

7. What was the result of the meeting ? 

S. What was the state of the country ? w^hat insurrections ? 

9. What convention w^as assembled ? when ? wiio was president? 

10. Give an account oi its proceedings? 

11. Into what parties w^as the country divided ? what efforts made by 

each of these parties ? 

12. What essays published ? by whom ? what was their effect r 
13* What is said of the state conventions ? 



CHAPTER XVII. 

1. What is said of the first congress under the new constitution: 

2. What was the first business of the senate ? 

3. Who were the president and vice president elect ? 

4. What is said of Washington's journey ? of his reception at Trenton r 

5. Of whom was the first congress composed ? 

6. What acts were passed ? what officers of state appointed by Wash- 

ington ? 

7. Give an account of the public debt. 

8. What plan was proposed by Mr Hamilton ? 

9. What opinions were entertained on this subject ? 

10. What arguments were used on either side ? 

11. Was the plan accepted ? under what circumstances ? 

12. What is said of the state of the country ? 



S 



QUESTIONS. 243 

13. What is said of the Indians ? what treaty was concluded ? who 

was chief of this tribe ? 

14. What tribes continued hostile ? what measures were taken ? 

15. What acts passed ? by whom recommended ? 

16. Give an account of Vermont — of Kentucky. 

17. W^hat is said of the population of the United States ? the revenue ? 

commerce ? shipping ? 



C H AP TER XVIII. 

1. W'hat measure taken against the Indians ? 

2. Give an account of St Clair's expedition. 

3. Where was the battle fought ? 

4. What measures taken by congress ? 

5. What is said of the distin ction of parties ? who were the leaders .' 
• what is said of them ? 

6. What names taken by the parties ? 

7. What did they say of one another ? were these accusations well 

founded ? 

8. What were the measures of the president's cabinet ? 

9. What laws particularly obnoxious ? 

10. What opposition was made to them? what was done by the pre- 

sident ? 

11. What charges brought against Hamilton .' were they sustained ? 

12. What is said of the presidential election ? 

13. What event began to aflfect the politics of America ? 

14. How was this revolution regarded ? 

15. What other sentiment combined with this difference respecting 

France ? 

16. What measure proposed in consequence ? 

17. What proclamation published by the president .' for what reasons ? 

18. How was this measure regarded ? 

19. Who excited the public mind at this time ? give an account of his 

proceedings. 

20. How did his mission terminate .' 

21. What was the last official act of Mr Jefferson ? 

22. What difficulties with Great Britain ? 

23. W^hat measure determined on by the president ? 

24. Who was sent on this mission ? 

25. What other disputed points ? what is said of neutral rights .' of 

impressment ? 

26. When and why did Mr Hamilton resign ? 



CHAPTER XIX. 

1. What difficulties with Spain ? 

2. Give an account of the Kentucky remonstrance ? 
S. W^hat other embarrassing circumstances ? 



244 QUESTIONS. 

4. What was the state of the Indian war ? 

5. What measure taken by general Wayne ? 

6. Where were the Indians stationed ? 

7. Give an account of the battle ? 

8. What discontents in Pennsylvania ? what measures taken by the 

disaffected ? by the president ? 

9. What proposal made ? was it accepted ? 

10. Where and under whose command did the militia assemble ? 

11. What was the result ? 

12. What was done by Mr Jay ? 

13. What was the state of the public mind respecting the treaty ? 

14. What defects especially condemned ? 

15. What measures taken by the people ? by Washington ? 

16. What is said of his conduct on this occasion ? 

17. What treaties made, and with whom ? 

18. What were the proceedings of congress respecting Jay's treaty? 

19. What embarrassments had now been overcome ? 

20. What is said of our relations with France .'' of the opinions enter- 

tained on this subject ? 

21. What new appointments made ? why ? 

22. Give an account of Tennessee, 

23. What is said of the presidential canvass I 

24. What was its result I 



CHAPTER XX. 

1. What was the first measure of the new president ? 

2. What was the situation of affairs with France ? 

3. What measure resolved on ? 

4. What was the reception of the envoys ? 

5. What intimations made to them ? 

6. How did the mission terminate ? 

7. What effect produced by the news of this event ? 

8. What measures taken ? What naval actions ? 

9. What was done by the French Directory ? 

10. What measure did Mr Adams take ? 

11. What opinion enter^^ained respecting this measure ? 

12. What was the result of the mission ? 

13. When did Washington die ? 

14. What removal made and when ? 

15. What is said of the presidential canvass? 

16. What was the origin of Mr Adams' unpopularity ? 

17. What measure taken by him ? with what success ? 

18. What was the last official act of Mr Adams ? 



CHAPTER XXI. 

1. How did the votes for president stand ? 

2. Give an account of the ballot by the representatives 



QUESTIONS. 245 

3. What was the final result ? 

4. What measures were now taken ? 

5. Of whom did Mr Jefferson's cabinet consist ? 

6. Give an account of Ohio. 

7. What territory added to the United States ? 

8. What circumstance preceded and caused this purchase ? 

9. What opposition made to it ? 

10. What were its effects ? 

11. What explorations made ? 

12. What war existed at this time ? 

13. Give an account of the loss of the Philadelphia. 

14. What exploit accomplished by Decatur ? 

15. What expedition by land against Tripoli ? 

16. Give an account of Col. Burr and his trial. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

1. What is said of American commerce ? 

2. What unfortunate circumstance in the state of parties? 

3. What attempt to renew the treaty with Great Britain ? 

4. What was its result ? 

5. What was the situation of Europe ? 
G. What plan formed by Bonaparte ? 

7. What decree issued by him ? 

8. What were its provisions ? how was it regarded ? 

9. What negotiations had been carried on respecting impressment ? 

10. What event occurred at this time in our own waters ? 

11. Give an account of it. 

12. What effect produced by it ? 

13. What measures taken by the president ? by the British govern- 

ment ? 

14. Give an account of the Orders in Council — of the Milan decree. 

15. What was the effect of these edicts ? 

16. What pretensions were made by the two nations ? 

17. What measure taken by the American government? 

18. What was the operation of this measure on the country ? on the 

belligerents ? 

19. What new decree issued by Bonaparte? under what pretence? 

20. What measure substituted for the embargo ? 

21. Who succeeded Mr Madison ? 

22. Who composed the new cabinet? 

23. What arrangement made with Mr Erskine ? 

24. With what result? 

25. What new decree issued by Bonaparte ? 

26. Under what pretence ? 

27. Giv^e an account of the act of May, 1810. 

28. What was done by the French government? 

29. What embarrassing circumstances attended the alleged repeal r 

30. What measures taken by the American government ? 

31. What arrangement made by Mr Foster ? 



246 QUESTIONS. 

82. In what did the reparation consist ? 

83. Give an account of the affair of the Little Belt. 

84. How did affairs stand with the Indians ? 

85. What remarkable chiefs headed the confederacy ? 

86. What measure taken by governor Harrison ? 

87. Grlve an account of the battle of Tippecanoe. 
S3. What measure taken against Great Britain ? 
89. What news arrived soon after ? 

40. What effect did it produce ? 

41. What new state added to the union ? * 



CHAP TER XXIII. 

1. Under what circumstances did the war commence ? 

2. What was the state of the army and navy ? 

3. What opposition was made to the war ? 

4. In what did it originate ? 

5. What party formed .'' what was its conduct ? 

6. What plan of finance proposed by Mr Gallatin ? 

7. What officers were first appointed to command ? 

8. What plan of operations was proposed ? 

9. Give an account of the proceedings of general Hull. 

10. What were the consequences of his surrender ? 

11. What measures were taken.? 

12. Give an account of the battle of the river Raisin. 

13. What followed the battle ? 

14. What was done on the Niagara frontier ? 

15. Give an account of the battle of Queenstown. 

16. What expeditions were undertaken by general Smyth ? 

17. What events tended to relieve the mortification of the Americans ? 

18. By whom was the Guerriere captured? give an account of the 

engagement ? 

19. What other naval victories ? give an account of them ? 

20. What effect produced by these victories ? 

21. What measures taken by congress ? 

22. What measures for procuring peace ? 

23. What measures taken by the British government ? 

24. Who commanded in the Chesapeake ? 

25. What was the conduct of his squadron ? 

26. What other blockades ? 

27. What naval actions fought ? 

28. Give an account of the Chesapeake and Shannon. 

29. What other naval actions .' 

80. In what new war was the United States involved ? 

SI. By whom were the Creeks instigated ? how did the war begin.' 

82. What measure taken by Georgia and Tennessee ? 

83. With what success ? 

84. Give an account of the battle of the Great Bend. 

85. What followed this battle ? 

S6. What expedition undertaken by general Dearborn ? 



QUESTIONS. ) 247 

37. Give an account of the battle of Stony Brook ; — of the Beaver Dams. 

38. Who succeeded Deavborn ? what expedition undertaken by him ? 

give an account of it. 

39. Where did tlie events occur most honorable to the American arms ? 

40. Give an account of the proceedings of Harrison ; — of the attack on 

fort Stevenson. 

41. Give an account of Perry's proceedings. 

42. Describe the battle of lake Erie. 

43. "What step taken by Harrison in consequence of this vie ory r 

44. Describe the battle of the Thames. 

45. "What was the consequence of this victory ? 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

1. What changes had taken place in the armies of the United Staii 

in the situation of Great Britain ? 

2. What reinforcements Avere sent to America ? . 

3. Describe the battle of Chippewa. 

4. Give an account of the battle of Niagara. 

5. Describe the attack on fort Erie ; — tlie sortie from the fort. 

6. Give an account of Prevost's proceedings. 

7. Describe the naval battle of lake Champlain. 

8. What did Prevost do after the loss of the fleet ? 

9. What expedition of the British was the most successful ? 

10. Give an account of it. 

11. What induced the British to proceed up the Patuxent ? 

12. What attempt was made to defend Washington? 

13. Wliat was the fate of the city ? of Alexandria ? 

14. What attempt was next made by the British ? 

15. What preparations had been made for defending Baltimore r 

16. What was the result of the expedition ? 

17. What other incursions were made by the British ? 

18. What naval actions fought .'' 

19. Against what place was the last effort of the British directed P 

20. To whom was the defence of New Orleans entrusted.' 

21. What measures of defence were taken ? 

22. What were the movements of the British army ? 

23. Describe the battle of New Orleans. 

24. Where and when was peace concluded ? 

25. With what feelings was the news received? 

26. Under what embarrassments did the government labor ? 

27. What is said of the Hartford convention? 

28. What were the results of the war ? 



CHAPTER XXV. 

1. What measures were taken by congress on the arrival of the news 
of peace ? 



248 QUESTIONS. 

2.|Who was sent into the Mediterranean ? 

3. For what purpose ? 

4. Give an account of his proceedings. 

5. What institution established by congress ? 

6. Give an account of the state of the currency. 

7. Who succeeded Mr Madison ? 

8. What causes tended to produce emigration ? 

9. What new states admitted into the union ? 

10. When and where were the first settlements made in Illinois ? 

11. Give an account of its subsequent history. 

12. What is said of the early history of Mississippi ? 

13. Give an account of Illinois — of Alabama. 

14. What subject discussed when Missouri was admitted ? 
35. What addition to the territory of the United States ? 

16. What was the reason for this cession ? 

17. What advantages result from it ? 

18. For what class of persons did congress make a provision ? to what 

amount ? 

19. Who were the candidates for the presidency at the expiration of 

Mr Monroe's term ? 

20. What was the event of the election ? 

21 . What is said of Mr Adams' administration ? who was his successor ? 



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